The Ant Bully (2006) (PG)
Directed by John A. Davis
Voices: Nicolas Cage, Bruce Campbell, Paul Giamatti, Allison Mack
Daughter Says:
The Ant Bully is definitely a kid’s movie. It is the perfect definition of one. A little boy is getting teased at school. He gets picked on and what not. You know the immature bullying things. So afterwards when the kid is at home he turns to the anthill and bullies them. But it’s time for the ants to fight back. So they whip up a concoction of some kind and shrink the kid. They are now going to teach the child to live the ant way. Once he has learned he can go back to his normal size and live like a person again.
Yep, the perfect kid’s story. A child getting teased picks on someone else. The victim teaches the suspect to be kind to others and work together. And in the end the moral of this story is… Exactly.
I enjoyed this movie, even if it is a kid’s movie. The Ant Bully is one you can just sit back and watch with your younger siblings. There wasn’t a lot of thinking involved (Which is fine with me). The whole story was drawn out for you so there was no confusion or figuring things out. I like those kinds of movies sometimes. I also like when I don’t have to read movies either, but that’s beside the point.
The downer to this film was that I’m a little outgrown for it, and I probably won’t be watching this movie again anytime soon. Another thing is some of the things were scary. Like the exterminator. He was really creepy to me and I don’t think you should have that kind of scary in a kid’s movie. It’s like Princess and the Frog. The bad guy and his shadow things were terrifying. I’m sure little kids would be scared of the shadows if they watched that movie. The exterminator in this movie was creepy. He smoked a big cigarette and was a bully just like everyone else. I couldn’t find one nice person in The Ant Bully. But I’ll let you decide what you think of the movie. I won’t persuade or not persuade you to see The Ant Bully.
Rating for The Ant Bully: **1/2.
Daddy Says:
I know I'm constantly praising Pixar's animated movies, but it's because they're doing it right. If more animated filmmakers learned the lessons on how to make one of Pixar's movies, we'd have so many better animated films to watch. The first lesson they need to learn is that the script for an animated film needs to be worked on for at least as long as it takes to animate the entire movie (which is a very long time). Unfortunately, in these types of films, the script is usually just cobbled together so they can get to the parts which they feel will make their movie successful: the wonderful computer-generated visuals. I'm here to tell you, I don't care how good looking a movie is, if it doesn't have a good story with characters I care about, it's not going to succeed.
Our main character, Lucas, is bullied by neighborhood kids. Then he turns right around and picks on the insects in his yard. Newsflash potential script writers: that type of thing makes your character unsympathetic. I'm no psychologist, so I can't say as to whether that type of behavior is common (my mind says it could very well be), but it's not what I want to see in a lead that I'm supposed to identify with.
And when Lucas continues to be sullen when he is sentenced to learn how to be an ant, again he remains unsympathetic. I'm not sure who exactly we're supposed to be rooting for in this film. Obviously, the exterminator character is the villain, but if he weren't played so over-the-top by Paul Giamatti, isn't he really just doing his job? And don't most homeowners want to be rid of insect pests?
This is one of those movies that makes an "all right" night's rental. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself a few days later forgetting that you even watched it. I know I did.
Rating for The Ant Bully: ***1/2.
Directed by John A. Davis
Voices: Nicolas Cage, Bruce Campbell, Paul Giamatti, Allison Mack
Daughter Says:
The Ant Bully is definitely a kid’s movie. It is the perfect definition of one. A little boy is getting teased at school. He gets picked on and what not. You know the immature bullying things. So afterwards when the kid is at home he turns to the anthill and bullies them. But it’s time for the ants to fight back. So they whip up a concoction of some kind and shrink the kid. They are now going to teach the child to live the ant way. Once he has learned he can go back to his normal size and live like a person again.
Yep, the perfect kid’s story. A child getting teased picks on someone else. The victim teaches the suspect to be kind to others and work together. And in the end the moral of this story is… Exactly.
I enjoyed this movie, even if it is a kid’s movie. The Ant Bully is one you can just sit back and watch with your younger siblings. There wasn’t a lot of thinking involved (Which is fine with me). The whole story was drawn out for you so there was no confusion or figuring things out. I like those kinds of movies sometimes. I also like when I don’t have to read movies either, but that’s beside the point.
The downer to this film was that I’m a little outgrown for it, and I probably won’t be watching this movie again anytime soon. Another thing is some of the things were scary. Like the exterminator. He was really creepy to me and I don’t think you should have that kind of scary in a kid’s movie. It’s like Princess and the Frog. The bad guy and his shadow things were terrifying. I’m sure little kids would be scared of the shadows if they watched that movie. The exterminator in this movie was creepy. He smoked a big cigarette and was a bully just like everyone else. I couldn’t find one nice person in The Ant Bully. But I’ll let you decide what you think of the movie. I won’t persuade or not persuade you to see The Ant Bully.
Rating for The Ant Bully: **1/2.
Daddy Says:
I know I'm constantly praising Pixar's animated movies, but it's because they're doing it right. If more animated filmmakers learned the lessons on how to make one of Pixar's movies, we'd have so many better animated films to watch. The first lesson they need to learn is that the script for an animated film needs to be worked on for at least as long as it takes to animate the entire movie (which is a very long time). Unfortunately, in these types of films, the script is usually just cobbled together so they can get to the parts which they feel will make their movie successful: the wonderful computer-generated visuals. I'm here to tell you, I don't care how good looking a movie is, if it doesn't have a good story with characters I care about, it's not going to succeed.
Our main character, Lucas, is bullied by neighborhood kids. Then he turns right around and picks on the insects in his yard. Newsflash potential script writers: that type of thing makes your character unsympathetic. I'm no psychologist, so I can't say as to whether that type of behavior is common (my mind says it could very well be), but it's not what I want to see in a lead that I'm supposed to identify with.
And when Lucas continues to be sullen when he is sentenced to learn how to be an ant, again he remains unsympathetic. I'm not sure who exactly we're supposed to be rooting for in this film. Obviously, the exterminator character is the villain, but if he weren't played so over-the-top by Paul Giamatti, isn't he really just doing his job? And don't most homeowners want to be rid of insect pests?
This is one of those movies that makes an "all right" night's rental. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself a few days later forgetting that you even watched it. I know I did.
Rating for The Ant Bully: ***1/2.
Whoa!! Hold on a minute!!! I know you are going to want a title, but right now I can't think of one. However, I KNOW you have made me sit through at least one movie (if not more) just because of it is "art" value. So this quote is untrue: "I'm here to tell you, I don't care how good looking a movie is, if it doesn't have a good story with characters I care about, it's not going to succeed."
ReplyDeleteNow, don't lie to the people, my love. :)