Several animated movies released in 2006. I did manage to see many of them in the theater. There were a few that I wasn't able to see when they were in the theaters. I recently rented The Ant Bully, one of those movies.
Lucas Nickle was a young boy that the neighborhood bully was always picking on. Lucas didn't know how to deal with the situation and ended up attacking the ants in the front yard. All the ants in the colony lived in fear of Lucas and called him the destroyer. Zoc was a wizard ant and he developed a formula that he believed could save the colony. The formula actually shrank Lucas to the size of an ant. Lucas was taken to the colony where the Queen ordered that he learn to be an ant. Zoc was very unhappy about that, especially when Hova volunteered to teach Lucas. He realized a few things and had to try to help the ants deal with something that endangered the entire colony.
There was a little more going on in The Ant Bully than I had expected based on the previews I had seen. A reason for why Lucas was attacking the ants was given. I did like that one was given because that showed that Lucas wasn’t just mean and cruel. His time with the ants did teach him a lot that could help him in some other situations. The movie did have a little bit of a lesson like tends to happen in many animated movies. I felt it was included in a way that worked for the movie. It wasn’t too preachy like has happened in some other movies. There was humor in the movie but it wasn’t as funny as it could have been. The movie relied too much on gross humor and that got old.
I did think the plot of The Ant Bully was entertaining and somewhat original. The original part came from Zoc creating a formula to shrink Lucas. This wasn’t the first movie to have a character end up completely out of their element, though it was a bit different to have a child end up living in an ant colony after being shrunk. The movie was based on a children’s book of the same name. I never read the book so I don’t know how the movie was changed from the source material. Two other animated movies, A Bug's Life and Antz, also featured ants as the main characters. Those movies had the ants in different situations than turned up in this movie.
The Ant Bully was created with computer animation like pretty much every new animated movie is anymore. The animation was well done and looked good. The human characters looked good even though they weren’t really realistic looking in some ways. None of the hair of any of the characters moved with the wind or movements of the characters like has been done in some other animated movies. Several scenes showed the yard and the blades of grass were just sort of there instead of moving. I did think the animation was well done. It just wasn’t as good as what Pixar creates.
Lucas was the main character and fairly well developed. He was struggling to deal with a bully while feeling like his mother was treating him like a baby. He was mean to the ants but he wasn’t really cruel or mean. He ended up learning a lot by the end of the movie. Zoc was a wizard that was determined to create something that would save the colony. He didn’t like humans in general and Lucas in particular. Nicolas Cage did a good job with the voice for the character.
Hova was interested in learning about humans which probably influenced her decision to help Lucas. She and Zoc were in love though I wasn’t sure if they were married or just dating. Julia Roberts did the voice for Hova. Kreela was one of Hova’s friends. Kreela taught young ants and didn’t want anything to do with Lucas at first. Regina King did a good job with the voice. Fugax was a scout that liked to show off anytime other ants were around. Bruce Campbell’s voice fit the character very well. The Queen ant really didn’t have much to do. She was only in two very short scenes.
Lucas’s parents, Fred and Doreen, were barely in the movie since they left on a vacation not long after the movie started. Doreen was concerned about Lucas before they left. Lucas’s sister Tiffany wasn’t around that much either even though she was in a few more scenes. Their grandmother Mommo realized that something was wrong with Lucas though she wasn’t exactly sure what. Mommo was very afraid of aliens and kept thinking they were trying to kidnap her. Stan Beals was an exterminator that wanted Fred to hire him. Stan really loved his work.
Voice Talent
Nicolas Cage - Zoc Bruce Campbell - Fugax Paul Giamatti - Stan Beals Regina King - Kreela Allison Mack - Tiffany Larry Miller - Fred Ricardo Montalban - Head of Council Cheri Oteri - Doreen Julia Roberts - Hova Meryl Streep - Queen Ant Lily Tomlin - Mommo Zach Tyler - Lucas
John A. Davis - Director
DVD Information
I rented the DVD of The Ant Bully. There are widescreen and full screen versions available. I rented the widescreen version. The disc contained several extras. There was a feature on the making of the movie that included the director and some of the animators talking about how the movie was made. I did think that part was interesting. There were some animated shorts featuring ants, some which were characters in the movie. The shorts were cute. Some deleted scenes were also included. The scenes were in different stages of animation. A few were pencil sketches, the process for the computer animation had started some and a few others looked like the animation was finished. A few of the scenes that were deleted did make a few minor things make more sense.
The Ant Bully very entertaining and enjoyable even though it could have been funnier. People that like animated movies may enjoy this one. It is worth watching at least once.
From Academy Award nominated filmmaker John A. Davis (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) and producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (The Polar Express), The An...More at HotMovieSale.com
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