Highly Overrated But Still Good

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Beautiful, moving film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

When I saw the movie coming up way back in 2006, I was excited to see it. Four years later, I now have.I'm very impressed by the realism that it has. I like the message they give.I know it was probably a children's movie, but I still feel that it was pushing it a bit. First, the stereotypical characters were a bit extreme. I mean, just look at the mom! And I never did crack up that much at all. Maybe once. I know, I know, you're 17, it won't be funny. Well the adult jokes weren't either. In fact, I wondered why they has made such a big deal when referring to the jokes.But all in all it was okay. I still think Bugs Life is way better, but it's not as bad as Antz was.

Sometimes animated movies can surprise you. And this was one of those movies. While it did not wow me, it did have a nice storyline and good voicing talent and that was good enough.Cage and Roberts play two ants. The thought of those two as ants at first seemed funny. But since they made them human, everything turned out alright. Enter actual conflict with other insects and it makes for a descent film.The concept, however, has been used before. Animals/insects/aliens being threatened by humans is all too familiar. But it gets over such a thing with making it similar to Western English Europeans dealing Native American Indians to a small extent and that familiarize the audience with the conflict between ant and boy.Overall, not bad. "B-"

Fun for kids of all ages. Well done with a message. Lucas Nickle(voiced by Zach Tyler Elsen)is a new kid in town in this computer-animated feature. Lucas has trouble making friends and is pretty well the butt of the neighborhood bully's jokes. He's really not having much fun and takes his aggression out on a large colony of ants. He stomps, buries and floods the six-legged critters. Zoc(voiced by Nicolas Cage),the "wizard ant", creates a concoction that shrinks Lucas to the size of...well, an insect. The leader of the Ant Council(voiced by Ricardo Montalban)and the Queen(voiced by Meryl Streep)will sentence Lucas for his crimes by making him live among them to see how difficult it is to be an ant. Put in charge of looking after him is Hova(voiced by Julia Roberts). Lucas finds compassion for the ant kingdom and helps them in a battle against Stan the Extermination Man(voiced by Paul Giamatti). Other voices you may or may not recognize: Bruce Campbell, Lily Tomlin, Larry Miller, Regina King and Cheri Oteri. THE ANT BULLY is produced by Tom Hanks and is written and directed by John A. Davis, who is responsible for the film JIMMY NUETRON.

Lucas is a victim of bullying by the other kids in his neighbourhood; he takes out his frustration on those smaller and weaker than himself—the ants in his garden—by flooding their colony with water.Fed up with Lucas's destructive behaviour, and keen to teach him a lesson or two, ant-wizard Zoc creates a magic potion which shrinks the boy to insect proportions. With the now-tiny lad held prisoner in their nest, the ants set about showing Lucas the error of his ways.Inevitably, Lucas realises that he was wrong to persecute the poor little bugs, makes a few new friends, and eventually risks his life to save the colony from a nasty exterminator who is determined to destroy all insects.Thematically, the Ant Bully ain't exactly the most original of CGI movies: the 'bully' angle has already been tackled by both Antz and Toy Story; the whole 'talking insect' thing has been covered by Antz (again) and A Bug's Life; the 'shrunken-boy-in-the-yard' routine was done (poorly) in Arthur and the Invisibles; and the core message of 'tolerance for all others, despite their differences'—well, that's as old as the (ant)hills!However, none of this matters too much because, with so much beautiful animation, several stunning action sequences (highlights being an air assault by nasty flies, and a brilliant frog attack), hilarious one-liners (yellow rain!!!) and sheer inventiveness crammed into 88 minutes, it's easy to be a little forgiving.Even the fact that writer/director John A. Davis's frequently lazy script pushes the limits of believability purely for narrative convenience doesn't stop The Ant Bully from being constantly engaging and very funny (just try not laughing out loud at the 'insect head' gag).My advice is to try and ignore the weak plot devices: Zoc's inexplicable ability to make magic; the crazy gran with the fan fetish; Lucas's seeming indestructibility and eventual possession of ant powers. Manage to do that, and you should find The Ant Bully a satisfying and entertaining experience.