Review of The Ant Bully (2006) by Zarinah H — 10 Jul 2009

My 4.5 year-old preschooler loves "The Ant Bully", and this is one of the few kid movies that I actually enjoy watching with her [we've watched it over 5 times now]. The animation is great, and the story too has a lot to recommend it. The story centers around a young boy, Lucas [Zach Tyler] who is constantly being bullied by an older and bigger neighborhood bully. Lucas in turn vents his anger and frustration on the ant colony in his yard. Typical of animated movies, the ants can 'talk' - there's Zoc [Nicolas Cage] a sort of ant wizard who experiments with a shrinking potion, his girlfriend Hova [Julia Roberts] who believes that "Peanut the Destroyer" aka Lucas is good at heart and that humans and ants can co-exist in peace. Lucas inevitably gets shrunk to ant size [well, a little smaller actually] and is sentenced by the Queen [Meryl Streep] to live and work in the ant colony, learning to 'become' an ant with the hope that Lucas will learn compassion. Over the course of the movie, Lucas learns that ants too have 'feelings' and that his actions of bullying the ants was not justified in any way - in fact, Lucas comes to form a real friendship with the ants.

A story with a positive message and wonderful animation, with lots of humor throughout - perfect for kids and adults alike. Highly recommended as a family movie.