Charming and brutal

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

We've seen this plot over and over again (see Dances with Wolves, Avatar, Ferngully, etc.) and this one does it worst than a lot of them. Similar to Ferngully, this is a cartoon movie with an overt message of acceptance of something that is helpless against us. While this is an important message, it is done very poorly.The jokes in this one all fall flat, the voice acting is poor, the animation is C-average, and the plot is boring and will make you sleepy. The director really had an opportunity to do some fun things with space and size distortion from an ant's perspective but we really don't get enough scenes regarding this. The kite-surfing was really the only fun one that comes to my mind. Besides this, the other ones don't really capture your attention. Skip this one.

From director John A. Davis, and the rest of the team that created Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, I wasn't expecting much from this computer animated film, but I still went for it. Basically ten-year-old Lucas Nickle (Zach Tyler), moved in a new neighbourhood, has no friends, and is the target for a local bully and his gang. The only thing Lucas can do to express his anger is bully the ants in his front garden, and the ants themselves are living in fear of the giant "Destroyer". Wizard ant Zoc (Nicolas Cage) has invented a magic potion that he is sure will shrink Lucas down to their size, and it works, and they drag him down to their colony. As punishment for endangering all the ants, Lucas is sentenced to live and work amongst the insects, and slowly this does open his eyes up, not just to what he has been doing, but to what the ants get up to, e.g. teamwork. But Lucas forgot that he signed a form to get the help of bug exterminator Stan Beals (Paul Giamatti) to vaporise the colony, so with the help of all ants and some wasps, they team up to save everyone. Also starring Julia Roberts as Hova, Meryl Streep as Queen, Jerry Maguire's Regina King as Kreela, The Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell as Fugax, Lily Tomlin as Mommo, Scary Movie's Cheri Oteri as Doreen Nickle, The Nutty Professor's Larry Miller as Fred Nickle, Allison Mack as Tiffany Nickle and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan's Ricardo Montalban as Head of Council. This film was obviously very hyped with the list of big stars providing their voices, and while the animation is good, the story that goes with it is a little dry, but I suppose there is some fun to be had for the family. Okay!

Anyway, I saw this movie's trailer while I was watching another DVD. It looked really funny with the sound of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and some reference to Harry Potter. I thought that it might be similar to "Shrek" with lots of funny references to our daily lives. So I waited several weeks to finally check it out from my local library. I have to say that the trailer is totally not what this movie is all about.The story is not very funny, it is really intended for children. Even though it is watchable for adults, but you can save the time to watch some other good movies. I kept watching, hoping that they will show that funny moment which they showed in the trailer. It is a lie, what they showed in the trailer has nothing to do with this movie at all. I think that this is the first time that I have ever seen a trailer that doesn't have any scenes from the actual movie.The ants don't look adorable with their sharp angles. And here is another thing, why do those ants have blue eyes? Have you ever seen an ant with blue eyes in real life? Even ants have to be Caucasian now? And how often do you see evil cartoon characters with blue or green eyes in any animated movies? That is just wrong, what would those children think when they see blue eyed ants or any other animals? I surely hope that those animators will stop doing that in the future.

The Ant Bully is not an excellent film. Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti all renowned people who are either nominated for or won an academy award. Despite this talented cast, the film lacks substance. The Ant Bully is not a film you would sympathize with. You won't feel sorry for the characters, and for me that's a huge hole in the storyline, that leads me to suggesting that this movie is just a mediocre film. I even said to myself warner bros. is practicing making animated films and hasn't yet mastered it like Dreamworks and Disney have. An overall average movie with a couple of laughs.