The young hero in "The Ant Bully" learns some valuable life lessons about teamwork, community and living in other kinds of social structures.

In "The Ant Bully," Lucas Nickle (voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen) is shrunken down to the size of an ant and is taken into an ant colony, where he learns to become a better human being. The film netted $8.2 million in its opening weekend, coming in at fifth place. Click photo for larger image. 'The Ant Bully' Related coverage Writer/director worked out all the bugs in 'Ant Bully' PG review: 'The Ant Bully'

A young audience member at the preview screening of "The Ant Bully: An IMAX 3D Experience" also learned an important lesson: Never try to walk through the theater with your 3D glasses on.

When critters started popping off the screen and into the audience, the little guy was bowled over by the illusion -- literally -- and had to sit down rather abruptly on the floor. And that was just during the previews for coming attractions.

Let's hope the experience won't leave him scarred for life. But it drives home the in-your-face immersiveness of 3D IMAX. "Ant Bully" is a good choice to translate into 3D. The combination of cutting-edge computer animation and 3D IMAX technology is a marriage made in Hollywood.

In "Ant Bully," a lonely little boy named Lucas takes out his frustrations on an ant hill and is magically shrunk down to ant size and taken into their kingdom, where he's taught how to be part of the colony team. As he "becomes" an ant, he also becomes a better human.

Lucas is pulled into the ant's world -- and in the 3D version of "Ant Bully," so is everyone in the audience. The characters leap off the screen, sometimes appearing to be staring directly at viewers over the chairs of the person in front. This up-close view of the beautifully drawn ant characters makes viewers relate to them as closely as Lucas will by film's end. The artwork and backgrounds of the subterranean ant world are rendered in great detail, and their visual complexity is greatly enhanced in 3D.

"Ant Bully" plays cleverly with scale: The ant-sized Lucas sees his family home from a new perspective -- a forest of a lawn, with towering blades of grass, a vast floor with an impassable shag carpet, and a giant telephone that he has to jump on the buttons to use. These bug's-eye perspectives play well in 3D and the large-format IMAX.

Grown-ups can appreciate the way the film pays visual tribute -- consciously or not -- to familiar genres: from biblical epics with casts of thousands of extras to sci-fi, "Men in Black," and even war movies (in an epic aerial clash between insects and an exterminator).

Families planning to see "Ant Bully" in the theater may as well take advantage of the opportunity to see it in 3D IMAX. Any kid can be captivated by good animation, but with the 3D "Ant Bully," everyone gets to be a kid again for 90 minutes.