“The Ant Bully” (Warner Brothers)
Star Voices Alone Can’t Make A Movie Special
This has been a summer of one animated movie after another. Some have been really good (“Ice Age 2”) and some have been less than that (“The Wild”). One thing has been proven. To succeed this summer as an animated movie you have to be better than average. Sadly the new animated movie “The Ant Bully” isn’t.
“The Ant Bully” is a movie with a message. It takes a stand and says no one should be a bully. Be they human, animal or insect all creatures should treat each other with respect. This is the lesson learned by Lucas (voiced by Zach Tyler). He has been bullied by one of the bigger kids in his neighborhood, and so he in turn takes it out on the ants that inhabit the anthill in his front yard.
One of the ant leaders is named Zoc (Nicolas Cage). He has been working on a powerful potion that has the ability to shrink humans to ant size. He manages to pour this in Lucas’ ear and soon the boy is as small as the ants. They spirit him away to their ant home and sentence him to work and live with them until he becomes ant-like.
His caretaker is a kindly ant named Hova (Julia Roberts). She treats Lucas as a friend and defends him against his detractors. They develop a bond that comes in good when all of the ants are threatened by an exterminator named Beals (Paul Giamatti). It takes Lucas thinking and acting like an ant to save the day.
All of this makes up a good moral film that has some funny moments and some endearing ones too. But moments are not enough to make a movie special this summer. It has to be constantly good and “The Ant Bully” isn’t. It is just an average, nice film that has a good message and a lot of star voices. In addition to Roberts, Cage and Giamatti we also hear from Meryl Streep, Regina King and Lily Tomlin.
The film is rated PG for some adult humor.
When “The Ant Bully” goes to DVD it will undoubtedly find a more receptive audience. Kids of all ages should have some fun watching this movie in the comfort of their homes. At theaters now the competition of “Cars,” “Over the Hedge” and “Monster House” just squeeze this simple and only so-so film out of the competition.
I scored “The Ant Bully” a beat-up 4 out of 10.
