Ant Bully

Written 30 July 2006

Warning: This film review reveals most of the plot of the movie.

For once, I didn't have any plans for Sunday, and Saturday was a long day down in Escondido, watching the Belles of Bedlam perform. So I was feeling like I need to do something less exhausting than usual, but I still felt a little restless and wanted to get out.

A quick look on Moviephone told me that a new movie called Ant Bully had just been released. The previews looked good, and it got a few good reviews from people who had seen it. So I jumped in the car and caught the afternoon show.

This movie was delightful. It's definitely a kids movie, but even as an adult I found myself glued to the screen, watching to see what would happen next.

Lucas is a small boy, and he is constantly beat up by a local bully. Unfortunately, when poor Lucas is beat up, he takes out his aggression on an ant colony located on his front lawn. To the ants, very intelligent creatures, he is known as "the Destroyer", and destroy is what this child does. He floods the colony, causing a disaster, and this spurs an ant wizard to create a potion to combat the terror.

This potion shrinks Lucas down to the size of an ant, which enables the ants to do something about this destroyer. The queen ant intervenes, and sentences Lucas to a learning experience. Lucas is to "become an ant" and learn what it means to live as an ant.

It's a fascinating concept, and I enjoyed this movie far more than It's a Bug's Life. For some reason, this film seemed more alive, more upbeat and more real ... perhaps it was just the addition of a human child that made it work for me.

Anyway, Lucas learns what it means to forage for food, to scout and to fight other insects. At first he thinks only of himself, but before long he understands that ants work together to create a wonderful civilization.

The film climaxes with a battle against an evil exterminator, a battle that Lucas and his new ant friends cannot afford to lose.

Needless to say, Lucas comes out of it all with a new understanding of what it means to work together with others, and the knowledge that there is more to life than just himself.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone of any age without reservations.