Minuscule - La valle delle formiche perdute

I was a fan of the series Minuscule, so I was looking forward to watch this feature film. Miniscule and the Valley of the Lost Ants has the same charm, visual impact and sense of humour as the episodes of the series, but there is a well-developed story here.

A young ladybug loses track of her family and, by accident, pairs with a group of black ants trying to carry a big case of sugar cubes to their hive. There is a considerable distance, and the weight of the case makes them take a detour through the forest. The adventure commences when the aggressive red ants get interested in the treasure.

Minuscule offers a very simple story, but it is very charming and engaging. Clean universal humour, for both children and adults, for people all over the world no matter their culture. If you haven't watch the series, it will surprise you see the character bugs being just bugs, not talking humans masked as bugs. However, they are enjoyable because they feel real bugs but also have situations that are basically human.

There are so many lovely scenes in the movie, so is difficult to choose one. However, my favorite is the one involving the spider, which is adorable! And the battle of the ants is absolutely epic!

The animation is great, a mix of natural backgrounds and 3D characters fused together as one. The filming of the backgrounds is fabulous because during the walking, flying or racing scenes the viewer feels that the magnitude and movement of the background is that a bug experiences.

The sounds of the different characters are wonderful and so very funny!

Some of the things that made Minuscule the series most appealing to me were the domestic environments in which many of the bugs' stories occurred, so I would have loved a bit of that also in the movie. That is a personal preference, of course.

Personally, I thought the film could have been shortened and some unnecessary scenes edited out and the film would still be as good.

Great fun, clean humour, very entertaining.

Hélène Giraud and Thomas Szabo wrote and directed this highly unusual French film. Although the subject matter is rather familiar (with prior CGI films like Antz and A Bug's Life), the style and content is like nothing I've ever seen before—and this is, by far the biggest strength of this cute little film. However, I must warn you that initially I hated this film, as the beginning was loud and not especially enjoyable— but keep watching…it will grow on you!

When the film begins, it begins with a normal setting out in the countryside. This is not CGI but real film. However, throughout the film the two are integrated together. When you see the world from a human's point of you, it's standard film. When it goes to the micro world of insects, the CGI is used. It's a very clever way to do the movie and it works very well. However, what did NOT work well for me were all the sound effects for the racing bugs. Using automobile sound effects seemed a bit heavy-handed and silly. Fortunately, this soon gave way to a strange sort of world where instead of voices (like you'd hear in films like A Bug's Life), you hear a combination of odd whistles and chirps. It's strange but works—especially since this makes the film much more universal than a typical animated film. There's simply no need to re-dub or caption the movie! I should also note that I did NOT see this in 3D—and assume that would have improved it…at least a bit.

The plot to Minuscule is not so childish or anthropomorphic as the other insect films I mentioned. In fact, the plot is amazingly simple. A group of black ants (along with their friend, a lady bug) find a lunch box filled with sugar and take it back to their colony. However, a group of red ants are NOT pleased—it should be their sugar and if the black ants take it, it's war!!

What follows is a very surreal war between the colonies—and the film improved tremendously. This is because all pretext for realism goes out the window and the movie really won me over! After all, MOST insect battles do not involve bugs bringing cans of insect spray, slingshots and firecrackers to the conflict! Who's going to win? See the film for yourself.

The best thing about the film is simply how different it is from everything else. Too often films are derivative and familiar—something that bores me to death. However, here the filmmakers manage to create something wholly new and clever. The CGI is lovely—and different from what you'd see from Dreamworks, Disney or Pixar. More noticeable is the music. It's almost magical and so unlike the typical child-oriented CGI film. It's instead very classically inspired and perfect for the film. Finally, the film has a cute sense of humor. While I don't think it's a comedy or is meant as one, I loved the expressions on the faces of the red ants. Despite a few slow moments here and there and the rough start, this is really a film to see. Will it appeal to little kids? Maybe not. But for older kids, teens and adults who want something different and not cloyingly sweet but still family-friendly, it's well worth seeing. Vive la différence!

Totally loved this movie, didn't know what to expect but was thrilled, charmed and amazed throughout. Cinematography is beautiful and the attention to detail astonishing, a lot of hard work has gone into this production and it really shows. Loved the personality's of each insect and although you need to suspend complete disbelief at what they achieve during the course of the movie it doesn't detract from a visual treat that is accomplished with zero dialogue from beginning to end, yes, no words from beginning to end and still a brilliant movie. Simply put, the best real film footage with CGI animation that I've ever seen - Kudos to the makers of this highly original film.

This film is simply wonderful! I loved it, and I'm certain you will too...

The animation is done via a technique I haven't seen before, whereby animation is used over real backdrops and though it is done simply, it looks fantastic, absolutely gorgeous.

There is no dialogue at all, only sounds and music. But how cute these characters are and how smart this movie is. It really has everything from heartfelt, sad moments and dreams, to very funny laugh out loud moments. I actually smiled and laughed my way through this movie form the very beginning. I actually can't remember the last time I saw a movie which made my smile so much.

The story is very simple and as mentioned, there is no dialogue, but the film is so captivating and fast moving and full to the brim with so many beautiful and funny scenes.. and the greatest thing about it all is any age group will love it. You could watch this with everyone in your family, regardless of age. They will all love it.

Overall Opinion: An absolute joy to watch! Faultless. You need to get on it asap!

When I started watching this charming film, I was surprised not to see the usual list of stars who would be voicing the various parts. However, once the film got going and went to ground level I realised that there are no human stars - because there are no words. And yet I understood every conversation with no difficulty whatsoever.

This is the brilliance of this film - one which puts cgi (and not a lot of cgi really) over real filmed scenes in an effortless, flowing way to create completely believable cinematography. That is not to say the film is believable, in the same way that Tinkerbell and A Bugs Life are unbelievable. And yet it is completely riveting to watch a ladybug take a meandering, drifting, wonderfully entertaining journey to save the day for new friends.

There are no words spoken, and yet there is plenty of perfectly understandable dialogue - a mixture of toots, peeps and growls that need no translation, along with a mass of subtle and not-so-subtle sound effects. The humour of realising that the buzz flies are the insect equivalent of a motorcycle gang, and the smile at hearing the oh-so-faint sounds of sawing and hammering as the ants build their nest - these are some of what make the-film-with-the-impossibly-long-name so satisfying, even as an adult. And my children were completely engrossed and living the story along with the minuscule hero all the way through.

Great movie.