The Ant Bully

When you hear about an animated movie about insects, or to be more precise ants, you would probably think of Pixar's A Bug's Life or Dreamworks' Antz and both of them turned out to be very good movies. But they didn't end up being the only ones. In July of 2006, Warner Brothers Pictures released this little flick that was based on a book released in 1999 by John Nickle. It received mixed reviews from critics and became a box-office disappointment and despite releasing some tie-in shorts that were released on Cartoon Network, The Ant Bully eventually fell into obscurity just like The Wild, which was released the same year. But when looking at the movie years later, does it hold as much promise as A Bug's Life and Antz or has the value shrunk to ant-size like Lucas? Let's find out.

The Story: When looking at the premise, it's seems kind of generic. It's about a kid named Lucas who copes with his bully problems by terrorizing a colony of ants, who retaliate by shrinking him with a potion concocted by the local wizard and he must earn their respect in order to go back home by becoming one of them. It's your typical hero does something bad and is put in a scenario to learn from his mistakes story that was done in other movies like Brother Bear or Beauty and the Beast and this is quite a tiring arch-type to put in movies, resulting in the story to be predictable and formulaic as you know that at the movie's end, Lucas will befriend the ants and grow back to human size. That and the message of the story feels pretty underwhelming as it tries to teach that no matter how small people are, when they band together, they're metaphorically big, which can be found in some other movies. However, even with a formulaic concept, the execution of the film does actually make it enjoyable for the most part. For instance; it is pretty nice to see how the ant colony functions where some ants are either a forager or a scout, the ant council, and Zoc's potion-making hobby. Not only those things, but the humor the film gives out is also pretty funny whether it be the slapstick or some of the other characters antics. But the story's execution can also come with some downgrades as well, like some scenes carry quite a mean-spirited feeling, whether it be at the beginning of the film where we see what Lucas's life is like before he was shrunk and how much of a vendetta Zoc has against Lucas. Yet, I will give this movie credit for trying to be it's own identity instead of copying A Bug's Life or Antz. Whether you love it or hate, it is safe to say that the story is quite a mixed bag.

The Animation: I will admit that, even though the story can be quite messy, the animation here is decent for the most part. The movie has a bit of a down-to-earth feeling, which maybe coincidental considering the Lucas' predicament within the film. For starters the way the ants look is half-realistic and half-cartoony, where they seem like regular red-ants but their anthropomorphic features give way to their cartoonish side like having 4-legs but 2-arms and also having human-esque eyes. The same can be said for the other bugs that appear in the film like the beetle, fly, and glow worm. The only exception are the wasps, who look as if they came straight from the real world. Heck, even the scene with the frog has a realistic feel to it. As for the human characters, they are more realistic and less cartoony than the insects, but are a bit on the generic side. I'm not saying that there's anything bad about them, they just look quite bland. For the backgrounds, I will say that the highlight of it would be the point-of-view from the ants, from how their world functions on the grassfield to the inside of Lucas' house to the inside the ant hill to most of the adventures Lucas has with them and it is quite engaging to say the least. Finally, for the character animation, I know I said that the ants look cartoony, but their movements are as generic as the storyline along with the humans. Similar to the story, the animation here is quite hit or miss.

The Characters: While the story and the animation do have some good points to them, I can't very well say the same for the characters in this movie. The characters are shown to be very one-dimmensional and barely have any development put onto them. Which seems disappointing since the characters have potential to be just as engaging as the story and animation. Lets begin with the main character, Lucas, who's your typical bully target who takes his anger out on the ant colony, subsequently dubbing him 'The Destroyer'. I know we're suppose to feel sorry for him because he's being bullied, but for some parts of the film, he acts a little bratty and kind of annoying. I will admit that as the film goes on, he does get more likable and even begins adapting to the ant enviorment, but even then he still feels a bit generic for my taste. The ants are not exactly all that better as each of them has a trope that becomes their defining trait. Hova is the kind-hearted ant woman who's more open-minded to befriending Lucas, Kreela is the sassy girl, Fugax is the goofy comic relief who's in love with Kreela, Spindle acts more like a pet than a character, the Head Council Ant is a simple reminder that he's Ricardo Montalbán's last movie role before dying 2-and-a-half years later, and the Queen is your typical wise ruler of the ants who only appears in two scenes. The only ant who appears to have any substance is Zoc, the ant wizard and Hova's boyfriend who is utterly distrustful of Lucas because of what he's done to the colony but learns to put aside his pride in order to help Lucas in the climax. I admit that he is the most interesting character in the movie and Nicolas Cage does give a good performance, but as I said before, his scenes with Lucas can give out a very mean tone that makes Zoc come across as somewhat unlikable. As for the other human characters, the most prominent one is the movie's antagonist, Stan Beals the Exterminator or as he is known by the ants, The Cloudbreather. In all honestly, there isn't much interest to this guy other than he's the generic villain who enjoys his job to a sadistic degree. Same can be said for Lucas' family like his valley-girl teen sister Tiffany, his crazy grandmother who believes in aliens, and both his parents and bullies who are only given a small amount of screen time. The only other characters that I can give props to other than Zoc is the non-ant bugs that are seen in the film's second half, which include an exuberant beetle, a pessimisstic glow worm, and a grumpy fly. Even though they don't appear as much as the main characters, they do have a sense of enjoyability to them and some may wish they were the focus of the film. While there are some characters that can be classified as just okay, I can say that a lot of the people and ants in this movie aren't all appealing.

It may not be Antz or A Bug's life, but I really don't consider that a bad thing. The Ant Bully is a bland feature with a more-or-less generic storyline and more-or-less one-dimmensional characters along with an overused message, but the execution and the animation are pretty decent for what the movie is. If I had to make a recommendation, I would say that it is worth at least one or two watches because unless if you really don't mind seeing the movie, than you're not missing out on much. Also before I close this review, I'd liek to give my personal thoughts on the shorts that came out before the movie back in 2006. I admit they are quite enjoyable and even funny despite the generic look, but I also kind of feel like they don't tie in to the movie. Beyond that, they and the movie do a pretty passable job and hopefully, it will show me what happens when you harass ants because I don't exactly have the interest of being shrunk down to less than a centimeter high.

Story: 6/10

Animation: 7/10

Characters: 5/10

Score: 6/10