The Ant Bully A Hill Of A Good Time

     The Ant Bully will likely get a bad reputation due to its similarities to Antz and A Bug’s Life. However, comparing those three motion pictures is like comparing The Jungle Book to Bambi. The fact that animals comprise the cast of characters is not the be all and end all. The same can be said for the flicks with insects for main characters. Once you get past the ridiculous preconceptions about the new computer animated movie, The Ant Bully proves to be quite the feast for the eyes.

     The Ant Bully, which is based on a children’s book of the same name by John Nickle, is playing in the 3D format in select IMAX theatres. The movie is fun without the added dimension but with it the family flick is breathtaking. The achievements in the 3D format deserve a round of applause. Watching the film in 3D is an unforgettable experience – the thing of major theme park attractions. Being a part of the high-flying action in The Ant Bully is an astounding extravagance for moviegoers of all ages.

     The Ant Bully features an all-star list of actors supplying the voices of the characters in the motion picture. Nicholas Cage, Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti and Meryl Streep headline the list with several bonus surprises along the way. Like any good animated flick, The Ant Bully introduces characters that aren’t just applicable to the story at hand but somewhat universal in nature as well as memorable in the long run. The movie is a product of the Warner Brothers studio and the humor is representative of Loony Tunes and Animaniacs cartoons.

     On the other hand, the real star of The Ant Bully is the wondrous animation. Between the imaginative scenes through the eyes of insects and the heart-stopping action sequences, The Ant Bully is a nonstop visual adventure. As I’ve already said, the ideal way to see the movie is on IMAX screens in 3D. Either way, though, audiences will be in for a true treat when they see the movie and kids won’t be the only ones on the edges of their seats.

     The main character in The Ant Bully is Lucas Nickle, a young boy who picks on ants and doesn’t express enough love to his family as a result of being constantly bullied by his peers. Zoc, an ant wizard, creates a magic potion that shrinks Lucas to the size of an ant. Ants haul Lucas back to their hill where the Queen Ant sentences the boy (who they only know as “the destroyer” and “peanut”) to live with the colony and learn how to be an ant.

     Hova volunteers to mentor Lucas with this task, much to Zoc’s dismay, but Lucas doesn’t want to cooperate. Soon, Lucas discovers the ants are more than just tiny insects and, while he misses his family, he begins to fit in with the rest of the colony. Just when things seem to be going along quite well (despite a few obstacles like a bullfrog and a swarm of wasps), Lucas remembers that he signed a contract with an exterminator named Stan Beals. It is now up to him and his new friends to save the entire colony.

     The Ant Bully may sound similar to earlier efforts in animation but it certainly looks significantly more impressive and those that take their families to see it will have a lot of fun. The characters are unforgettable, the story is entertaining, the jokes are funny, the action is fast-paced, the moral is heartfelt and the animation is astonishing. All of these cinematic elements line up for one must-see movie event. The Ant Bully may be hardly making even a tiny footprint at the box office but it is my pick for the best animated movie of the year thus far.