Adapted by director John A. Davis from a Scholastic book Tom Hanks used to read to his son, "The Ant Bully' tells the story of a bored, lonely 10-year-old boy who takes his frustrations out on ant hills -- that is, until members of the colony figure out a way to cut him down to size both literally and figuratively.
But despite the Hanks seal of approval and the lure of a stellar voice cast including Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, the animated version feels anonymously generic and charmlessly mechanical.
Failing to adequately flesh out the characters and the story, the movie is all exoskeleton.
Situated tightly between Columbia's "Monster House" and Paramount's "Barnyard" in this season's fairly crowded animation market, the Warner Bros. Pictures release might find a few extra crumbs in its 3-D version screening simultaneously in select Imax theaters, but it likely will have to settle for minor boxoffice infestation.
Tired of finding themselves at the mercy of young Lucas Nickle, aka "Lucas the Destroyer" (Zach Tyler Eisen), the ants show who's boss with a magic potion developed by Wizard Ant Zoc (Cage), which, when dropped into the boy's ear, shrinks him down to their level.
Lucas is taken down into the colony to stand trial for his crimes against antdom, and while there are those who would prefer to eat him, the wise Ant Queen (Streep) sentences him to live among them and to learn their customs.
Befriended by Zoc's kind girlfriend, Nurse Ant Hova (Roberts), Lucas gets a valuable lesson in the spirit of cooperation while dodging the predatory advances of wasps and frogs.
Basically, the biggest problem with "Ant Bully" is that if you're planning on invading "A Bug's Life" and "Antz" turf, you'd be wise to bring something fresh to the picnic table. But writer-director Davis, who created Jimmy Neutron, keeps coming up short on the inventiveness front.
That lack of inspiration also extends to those providing the voices, many of whom seem to struggle to find just the right pitch, overplaying or underplaying their assigned characters.
While Davis' visuals clearly reveal an affection for legendary stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen, there's a clinical coldness to the computer animation that cries out for a more stylized, more inviting look and feel.
The often brash results receive little in the way of a counterpoint from John Debney's decidedly unsubtle score, which has a habit of making a mountain out of an anthill.
The Ant Bully
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Legendary Pictures
a Playtone production in association with DNA Prods.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: John A. Davis
Producers: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, John A. Davis
Based on the book by: John Nickle
Executive producers: Keith Alcorn, Diana Choi Sachs, Steven Shareshian, Thomas Tull, William Fay
Editor: Jon Price
Muisc: John Debney
Voices:
Hova: Julia Roberts
Zoc: Nicolas Cage
the Ant Queen: Meryl Streep
Stan Beals: Paul Giamatti
Kreela: Regina King
Fugax: Bruce Campbell
Mommo: Lily Tomlin
Lucas Nickle: Zach Tyler Eisen
Head of Council: Ricardo Montalban
Doreen Nickle: Cheri Oteri
Fred Nickle: Larry Miller
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 88 minutes...
But despite the Hanks seal of approval and the lure of a stellar voice cast including Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, the animated version feels anonymously generic and charmlessly mechanical.
Failing to adequately flesh out the characters and the story, the movie is all exoskeleton.
Situated tightly between Columbia's "Monster House" and Paramount's "Barnyard" in this season's fairly crowded animation market, the Warner Bros. Pictures release might find a few extra crumbs in its 3-D version screening simultaneously in select Imax theaters, but it likely will have to settle for minor boxoffice infestation.
Tired of finding themselves at the mercy of young Lucas Nickle, aka "Lucas the Destroyer" (Zach Tyler Eisen), the ants show who's boss with a magic potion developed by Wizard Ant Zoc (Cage), which, when dropped into the boy's ear, shrinks him down to their level.
Lucas is taken down into the colony to stand trial for his crimes against antdom, and while there are those who would prefer to eat him, the wise Ant Queen (Streep) sentences him to live among them and to learn their customs.
Befriended by Zoc's kind girlfriend, Nurse Ant Hova (Roberts), Lucas gets a valuable lesson in the spirit of cooperation while dodging the predatory advances of wasps and frogs.
Basically, the biggest problem with "Ant Bully" is that if you're planning on invading "A Bug's Life" and "Antz" turf, you'd be wise to bring something fresh to the picnic table. But writer-director Davis, who created Jimmy Neutron, keeps coming up short on the inventiveness front.
That lack of inspiration also extends to those providing the voices, many of whom seem to struggle to find just the right pitch, overplaying or underplaying their assigned characters.
While Davis' visuals clearly reveal an affection for legendary stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen, there's a clinical coldness to the computer animation that cries out for a more stylized, more inviting look and feel.
The often brash results receive little in the way of a counterpoint from John Debney's decidedly unsubtle score, which has a habit of making a mountain out of an anthill.
The Ant Bully
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Legendary Pictures
a Playtone production in association with DNA Prods.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: John A. Davis
Producers: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, John A. Davis
Based on the book by: John Nickle
Executive producers: Keith Alcorn, Diana Choi Sachs, Steven Shareshian, Thomas Tull, William Fay
Editor: Jon Price
Muisc: John Debney
Voices:
Hova: Julia Roberts
Zoc: Nicolas Cage
the Ant Queen: Meryl Streep
Stan Beals: Paul Giamatti
Kreela: Regina King
Fugax: Bruce Campbell
Mommo: Lily Tomlin
Lucas Nickle: Zach Tyler Eisen
Head of Council: Ricardo Montalban
Doreen Nickle: Cheri Oteri
Fred Nickle: Larry Miller
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 88 minutes...
- 7/24/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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