The Ant Bully (2006)

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.

Director:

John A. Davis

Writers:

John A. Davis, John Nickle (book)

Stars:

Paul Giamatti, Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

This is the story of a ten-year-old boy named Lucas Nickle, who has just moved to a new neighborhood, has no friends, and is the target for the local bully and his gang. His parents are leaving for a honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, so they are too busy to attend to his problems. His sister is distracted by her cellular phone, and the grandmother is obsessed with UFOs and aliens. Lucas is constantly being beat up by the obese yet intimidating neighborhood bully. Because he cannot fight back, he takes out his anger on an anthill in his front yard; He kicks it, stomps it, squirts it with his water gun, and floods it with a hose. This terrifies the ants, who call Lucas the Destroyer. One wizard ant, known as Zoc being a hopeful and adventurous type, is trying to solve this dilemma. He tries to devise a magic potion that he believes will solve all their problems. As the plan to shrink Lucas down to their size with a magic potion and forcing him to live like an ant within the colony--an ...

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Plot Keywords:

ant | punishment | miniaturization | formicary | moral | 

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Taglines:

This Summer It's Crunch Time.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild rude humor and action

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [France] Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las aventuras de Lucas

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,432,465, 30 July 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$28,142,535, 16 November 2006

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$55,181,129, 30 June 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Playtone

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first theatrically released animated film for both Jake T Austin and Nicolas Cage (the voices of Nicky and Zoc respectively), later Austin would go onto voice Yankee Irving in Everyone's Hero (2006), Fernando in the Rio films, the title character of Khumba (2013), and Alex in the Emoji Movie films whilst Cage would go onto voice Dr Tenma in Astro Boy (2009), Grug Crood in the Croods films, and Superman in Teen Titans Go to the Movies (2018).

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Goofs

A glow worm was inside the frog with the beetle and the fly. A glow worm is not like a worm; but rather a species of a beetle.

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Quotes

Queen Ant: Be still, be still. Tonight we have a choice. We could destroy this human and make safe this day. Or we could change the nature of his human and perhaps create a brighter future for all ants. I therefore the human to live and work in the colony to learn our ways. He must become an ant.
Lucas Nickle, Zoc: What?
Zoc: No. No, my queen. What if he does not become an ant? Okay, I mean, come on.
Queen Ant: That would be regrettable.

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Crazy Credits

The ending credit is in "Chamber of the Ages" style (seen in the movie).

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Connections

Featured in Veronica Mars: Postgame Mortem (2007)

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Soundtracks

The Ants Go Marching
Performed by The Ant Buddies
Traditional Arranged by Ralph Sall
Produced by Ralph Sall

User Reviews

Well Worth Viewing

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.