The Ant Bully (2006)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

John A. Davis

Writers:

John A. Davis (writer)
John Nickle (book)

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

The battle for the lawn is on.

Plot:

After Lucas Nickle floods an ant colony with his watergun, he's magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labor in the ruins.

Plot Keywords:

Ant | Bully | Colony | Magic Potion | Wizard

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Julia Roberts	...	Hova (voice)
Nicolas Cage	...	Zoc (voice)
Meryl Streep	...	Queen (voice)
Paul Giamatti	...	Stan Beals (voice)
Zach Tyler	...	Lucas Nickle (voice) (as Zach Tyler Eisen)
Regina King	...	Kreela (voice)
Bruce Campbell	...	Fugax (voice)
Lily Tomlin	...	Mommo (voice)
Cheri Oteri	...	Doreen Nickle (voice)
Larry Miller	...	Fred Nickle (voice)
Allison Mack	...	Tiffany Nickle (voice)
Ricardo Montalban	...	Head of Council (voice)
Creagen Dow	...	Mullet Boy (voice)
Myles Jeffrey	...	Steve (voice)
Jake T. Austin	...	Nicky (voice)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild rude humor and action.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:G | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | USA:PG (certificate #42829) | UK:U | Australia:G | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:I | France:U | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | Argentina:Atp | Philippines:G | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:All | New Zealand:G | Portugal:M/4 | Sweden:7 | Denmark:7 | Norway:A | Canada:G (all jurisdictions) | South Africa:PG

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The eerie insect noise heard when Zoc and the other ants first enter Lucas' house (to shrink and kidnap him) is the same eerie insect noise heard in "Them!" (1954), when the giant ants are shown on screen.

Quotes:

Zoc: [after Lucas tells Zoc a plan to save the colony] I think I know why his name is 'Peanut',
[raises his arms up]
Zoc: Because his brain is the size of a peanut!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Soundtrack:

The Ants Go Marching

Ant Bully = FUN FUN FUN!!!!!

Wildly entertaining for kids and bits of off the wall humor for adults make The Ant Bully my top choice for cartoons and animated films this year! Tom Hanks' production group assembled a fantastic line up of voice actors for this movie. My favorite all-star was Julia Roberts, who I believe is best playing in fun roles for children as she did in Hook as Tinkerbell.

Nicolas Cage added a hint of familiarity and also added to the entertainment level for adults (i.e. imagining the "Lord of War" as a tiny ant!) Above that, my favorite part about the Ant Bully were the vivid scenes and camera angles between the world of the human and the world of the ant. The animators had brilliant use of switching the perspective at different times – for example - *mini-spoiler* a fire cracker goes off and makes a gigantic BOOM in the underground for the ants, but the camera zooms out and it is a tiny pop for the world of humans.

The variety of entertainment and different levels of humor make The Ant Bully this Summer's top choice for family fun!