Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants (2013)

A stranded young ladybug forms an alliance with a squad of black ants in order to retrieve a rather unusual treasure to the ant hive.

Directors:

Hélène Giraud, Thomas Szabo

Writers:

Thomas Szabo, Hélène Giraud

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Storyline

In a peaceful little clearing, the remains of a picnic hastily abandoned spark warfare between two tribes of ants. A bold young ladybug finds himself caught in the middle of the battle. He befriends one of the black ants, Mandible, and helps him save the anthill from the assault of the terrible red ant warriors, led by the fearful Butor. A fantastic journey at ground level...

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Plot Keywords:

ant | black ant | ladybug | red ant | picnic | 

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Taglines:

An Epic Adventure At Ground Level.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Instagram Official Blog

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

None

Release Date:

29 January 2014 (France)

Also Known As:

Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

$19,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Futurikon, Entre Chien et Loup, 2d3D Animations

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital (TRAILER-Spanish dubbing mix)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

An overhead camera angle, when Ladybug is ascending stairs inside Spider's house, is similar to one used in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, when Norman descends stairs, while removing Mother from her bedroom.

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Goofs

When the ladybug and the ant come to the storeroom to take the box of matches, the sliding number puzzle's 11, 12 and 15 numbers' positions look different than the attendant ant came back with the matches.

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Connections

References Psycho (1960)

User Reviews

No dialogue - but perfectly understandable

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.