Think of what it would be like if you were made to live in a colony of ants sounds funny huh? Not according to writer and director John A. Davis, and John Nickle of the newest children’s animated motion picture, The Ant Bully. When I saw this movie last month at its advanced screening I thought it was cute, and adorable. I was very impressed with the storyline, animation, and vocal talents from the cast Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Regina King, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamattii, and Zack Tyler Eisen.
The Ant Bully is a brilliantly done animated children’s movie. It’s not a long movie, and the children won’t get bored. Its pacing is excellent, never leaving the viewer with a dull moment. There are so many exciting things and adventures in this movie that the little ones will enjoy. The film’s spectacular look at an adventurous world of ants ushers the viewer in for an hour and a half of an exciting cinematic treat. I found the beautifully colored landscapes combined with fauna and flora along with wonderful special and sound effects to be very exciting.
The cinematography is brilliantly done as it zooms in the viewer’s focus and attention to an ant colony, and a wonderfully innovative pictorial portrait of an ant’s life and its habitat. Like Prixar and Disney’s animated box office smash hits Cars and A Bug’s Life The Ant Bully delivers a good story, and wonderfully done spectacular visuals of animation and personification that children will enjoy.
The Ant Bully is written, produced, and directed by John A. Davis, John Nickle, (based on the childrens book, The Ant Bully) Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman. The running time for this movie is 1:30. Genre: Animation, drama, kids/Family. Rated PG. The scheduled release date for The Ant Bully is July 28, 2006. Warner Brothers Motion picture.
Zach Tyler Eisen plays Lucas aka Peanut; a little boy whose always getting bullied by the neighborhood kids. Lucas doesn’t like to be bullied and feels the need to bully others so he finds an ant colony in front of his house and bullies them with his daily shots of water at their colony, using his toy water pistol. Lucas’s antics of water shooting causes havoc for this colony of ants, the ants decide enough is enough and vows revenge. When Lucas goes to sleep Zoc (Nicolas Cage), an ant and wizard of the colony vows to put an end to the havoc little Lucas causes to their colony. Zoc creates a magical potion that turns Lucas into the size of an ant, and lands him into the colony.
When Lucas arrives to the colony he is confronted by a large community of angry ants that wants to destroy him, calling him The Destroyer and enemy to their colony. The queen of this colony portrayed by Meryl Streep decides that destroying Lucas is not the answer, but creating an attitude of empathy for this youngster is best. The queen sentences Lucas to remain in the colony and live an ant’s life. Lucas gets more then his share in his adventure in the ant colony when he discovers what it is like to live as an ant. He also discovers a colony that’s ruled by ants, dragon flies, wasps, frogs-toads, bugs of many sorts, along with the fears, and happiness that ants and bugs have. Lucas is assigned to Hova (Julia Roberts) Zoc (Nicolas Cage) and Kreela (Regina King) these three ants will teach Lucas an adventurous and meaningful lesson that will touch your hearts.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier, The Ant Bully is an outstanding animated childrens movie, and the best I’ve seen this summer. It’s wonderfully done. John A. Davis, Tom Hanks and John Nickle provide excellent direction, and a wonderfully written script best suited for a children’s tale of anthropomorphism. As for the cinematography, the setting in this delightful motion picture is breath taking and has the perfect elements for the perfect children’s video game. The action scenes are adorable, and exciting especially for the little ones. I found the characters in this story to be very exciting, likable, and enjoyable especially Lucas’s psychic grandmother who seemingly just can’t keep her teeth in her mouth and the exterminator whose task of killing insects takes on a zany twist.
Check out this movie with the children. Children and adults will enjoy The Aunt Bully.
Overall, The Ant Bully gets 5 stars it’s excellent and a must see childrens movie.