AntBoy
"The Ant Bully" to me is just another animation, nothing that wrong with it but nothing about it which makes it any better than the ever growing number of other computer generated animations. I suppose what I am saying is that "The Ant Bully" is the equivalent of a romantic comedy for adults with the feel of someone coming up with a slim idea for a children's movie and a studio running with it with just an eye on a quick profit. I might be wrong but that is how it feels and so whilst it will entertain those just looking for some simple animated fun it lacks that something extra to make it a great cartoon.
Lucas Nickle is tired of being picked on by the neighbourhood bully and finds himself constantly taking his frustration out on a colony of ants which live in his garden. In turn the ants are growing tired of the constant torment from the one they call Lucas the Destroyer so ant wizard Zoc comes up with a way to shrink the destroyer down to their size in order to teach him a lesson about being an ant.
So what we have in "The Ant Bully" is very much a computer generated animation made for a young audience only rather than one which has adult appeal as well. And when viewed as a children's movie it works, the jokes are innocent enough, the animation is not bad although making ants likeable is no easy task and it doesn't out stay its welcome. For parents who don't want their children watching vacuous entertainment it also has a selection of moral messages from friendship to patience and understanding as well as treating others as you want to be treated.
But whilst "The Ant Bully" is entertaining enough for a young audience it sadly offers up nothing for grown ups. It is where the movie is let down because whilst I acknowledge this is made for children it is often the case that a parent will end up watching with their child and sadly that lack of clever innuendo lets it down.
As for the actual characterisation well it is a case that many of the voices will be recognizable thanks to a cast which includes Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Regina King. But the actual characters are to be frank forgettably dull with no great charm coming from any of them.
What this all boils down to is that "The Ant Bully" is very much an animation for children rather than the entire family as it lacks the cleverness of jokes to amuse grown ups. But as a children's movie it works in a reasonable way.
