The Ant Bully

Elements from several recent computer-generated pictures are truly evident in this animated feature that focuses on a young boy who takes his frustrations out on defenseless ants after being bullied himself by his peers. After he magically gets turned to the size of an ant, the youngster learns how the other half lives and survives. Under-rated picture that has good messages for the kiddies and will keep them occupied on rainy afternoons. A bit slow-moving and old hat for hardened adults, but still more upside nonetheless. Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage are the two biggest names in a strong cast that lends their voices to their cartoonish alter egos. 4 stars out of 5.

I was able to attend a early screening of this movie by chance. Finding the free pass discarded on the ground at a busy bus stop here in downtown Seattle. Lucky I was!

I really enjoyed this movie, it was a great improvement over the past "Antz" movie it preceded not too long ago. The film was well rounded being able to capture the attention of late twenty somethings to preteens with its clever comedy and playful characters. Kinda like a Honey I shrunk the kids minus the moldy cheese.

There were a few jokes aimed @ an older audience but this helped keep more mature viewers feeling they had spent their 9 bucks on a delightful film.

I will say I enjoyed The Ant Bully on the whole. Of course the concept has been done to death, and the story is predictable at times. The script on the whole is nice, maybe not as smart or as sassy as Antz and Bug's Life and certainly not as humorous. But this is an example of an animated film that looks very handsome with detailed backgrounds, vibrant colouring and convincing enough character movements. The soundtrack is absolutely lovely. I always look out for this element in every film I review, and I was most impressed with the soundtrack overall. The voice acting is another saving grace, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage and Paul Giamatti among others do a stellar job voicing engaging enough characters. The Ant Bully also has a great moral about bullying, a topic I feel most strongly about. Sometimes there is a danger of moralising in films being too preachy, but the writers somehow managed to avoid that, and that was most commendable. All in all, this is a above decent animated film, that never tries to be the best movie ever made. It tries to do something original about a over familiar concept, and while not entirely successful, it is a jolly good attempt. Remember you could have been watching Doogal. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Ant Bully" was an OK movie about a boy named Lucas (vocied by Zach Tyler Eisen) who was shrunk to ant size. He was shrunken by a wizard ant named Zoc (Nicolas Cage) as a punishment for Lucas harming the ant colony. The Queen (Meryl Streep) then instructed her colony to train Lucas to become an ant like themselves which was a better solution than eating him.

This movie simply whelmed me (to use a term I heard from a YouTube comedy skit.) I wasn't overwhelmed, nor was I underwhelmed. The animation quality was fair-to-middling as was the plot. "Avatar" would go on to have a similar theme (converting a person into one of them) and I didn't like that movie at all. "Ant Bully" has similar components as other more successful movies, but the different elements didn't come together in that harmonious way that gives you a spectacular movie.

I really don't get the negative reviews for this movie. I'm in my forties, so is my husband. Our children are three and eleven. We all loved this movie. I'll buy the DVD.

I liked this movie as well as A Bug's Life, if not better. Why? The message that it's okay to be yourself and that you don't have to simply accept bullying is delivered in a more laid-back way. A Bug's Life and Toy Story, by comparison, are frenetic.

The actors voices and characterization are terrific. All in all, I think the visuals at the end of the film - sort of a funky, hieroglyphic narrative - help to sum up this film's appeal or lack of appeal, depending on the nature of the viewer. If you genuinely prefer faster-paced, more "in-your-face" type of movies (and I realize that most American film viewers do these days), then you will have to acclimate a little to this film. But not much. It's plenty busy.

What it also is, however, is charming. Toy Story was charming. So was the first Shrek, in its own quirky, slightly perverse way. The Ant Bully, in my family's opinion (and we go to a lot of movies), was just what we needed for a Friday night of family entertainment. We had some really good laughs, enjoyed being together, and left feeling upbeat. The audience seemed to enjoy this movie very much. There was a lot of laughter and many people stayed to watch the colorful visuals at the end.

If you don't like this movie, then perhaps you need to learn to kick back and relax a little more often. We found it to be well worth viewing and it will certainly receive a lot of travel time viewing in our car once it's released on DVD. I saw that Tom Hanks was an Executive Producer. Thanks, Tom.