Ant Bully

Theatrical Release Date: 2006 08 04 (USA - IMAX 3D) / 2006 08 04 (USA)

UPC: 012569736689

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Scatological Humor]

Summary: A kid who hates ants finds himself living among the six-legged critters in this computer-animated comedy-adventure. Lucas Nickle (voice of Zach Tyler Eisen) is a ten-year-old boy whose family has just moved to a new town, and Lucas isn't enjoying it much -- he hasn't made any friends yet, his big sister ignores him, his parents (voices of Larry Miller and Cheri Oteri) are occupied with their upcoming vacation in Mexico, and his loving but slightly crazy grandmother (voice of Lily Tomlin) is convinced space aliens are casing out the neighborhood. To make matters worse, the local bully has found Lucas and is making his life miserable, so the boy looks for someone he can push around -- and he soon finds a large colony of ants in his yard. Lucas takes out his frustrations by stomping, drowning, and burying the bugs, little realizing the ants see him as a threat to their safety and aren't about take his attacks lying down. Zoc (voice of Nicolas Cage) is a "wizard ant" who creates a formula that shrinks Lucas to the size of an insect, and the tiny boy is brought before the leader of the Ant Council (voice of Ricardo Montalban) and the Queen of the Colony (voice of Meryl Streep) to answer for his crimes against the ants. Showing compassion, the queen sentences Lucas not to death, but to live among them and see how difficult their circumstances can be. Nurse Ant Hova (voice of Julia Roberts) is put in charge of looking after Lucas, and with the help of Scout Fugax (voice of Bruce Campbell) and Forager Kreela (voice of Regina King), Lucas gets an eye-opening picture of how the other half lives -- just in time for Lucas to help the ants in an all-out battle against Stan (voice of Paul Giamatti), a pest-control man brought in to get rid of the bugs. Produced by Tom Hanks, The Ant Bully was written and directed by John A. Davis, who handled the same chores on the film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Features: 7 hilarious animated shorts
Additional scenes
It Takes a Colony: Explore the giant filmmaking process from a tiny perspective
Ant habitat TV screensaver

Ant Bully

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/28/2006

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 89 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Ant Bully
1. Final Ingredient [2:47]
2. Destroyer [3:05]
3. Human and Alien Problems [5:04]
4. Stan Beals [4:02]
5. Tiny Lucas [4:53]
6. Queen's Ruling [3:31]
7. Scout and Adventures [4:04]
8. Finished at the Finish [2:56]
9. Wasp Attack [3:08]
10. Fire in the Hole [3:19]
11. Too Much Honeydew [2:51]
12. Indoor Hang-Gliding [4:54]
13. Hold the Phone [4:55]
14. Not the Ant I Love [4:32]
15. Frog Food [2:32]
16. Alka Root to the Rescue [3:08]
17. Perhaps We Are Alike [3:07]
18. Cloudbreather [2:55]
19. Unlikely Allies [2:32]
20. Insect Squadron [2:53]
21. The Sting [3:55]
22. Cross Our Hearts [2:06]
23. Dogpile and Sweet Rocks [3:04]
24. End Credits [8:35]

Derek Armstrong

The glut of digital animation that hit theaters in 2006 finally took its toll -- on the wrong movie. Despite first-rate visuals, an all-star vocal cast, and a new spin on some familiar territory, The Ant Bully trickled out of the Top Ten within three weekends, leaving Warner Bros. and producer Tom Hanks with a certified flop. Meanwhile, Barnyard's box office continued to prove the earning power of far less inventive films. Antz and A Bug's Life may have gotten to this microscopic world eight years earlier, but it took The Ant Bully to explore the age-old one-sided battle between ants and "human destroyers" -- i.e., cruel children who stomp on anthills. Director John A. Davis and company have developed an imaginative variation on the landscape their predecessors established, one that's surprisingly unburdened by what came before. Plus, they've provided children a positive message regarding perspective that has both a literal interpretation (don't kill other living creatures) and a figurative one (don't pick on the little guy). Although Lucas Nickle adapts unnaturally quickly to his change in circumstances -- nary a freak-out about his shrunken size -- his immersion in the colony and eventual bonding with its members are both handled well. This sets up a series of strong set pieces, including a wasp attack, a mission into Lucas' house to get "sweet rocks" (jelly beans), and a narrow escape from a determined bullfrog. The climactic battle against the exterminator -- voiced by Paul Giamatti in a regrettably brief showpiece of vulgarity -- is a final summary of all the film's clever decisions about size and the possibilities therein. If audiences finally decided they preferred something really "different," it was a poor time to reach that conclusion. Better to give fresh life to old material than approach new material in a derivative way. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Earl Boen  Actor 
Tom Kenny  Actor 
Laraine Newman  Actor 
Billy West  Actor 
John A. Davis  Director 
John A. Davis  Producer 
John A. Davis  Screenwriter 
John Debney  Composer (Music Score) 
William Fay  Executive Producer 
Gary Goetzman  Producer 
Tom Hanks  Producer 
Shawn Murphy  Composer (Music Score) 
Keith Alcorn  Executive Producer 
Steven Shareshian  Executive Producer 
Thomas Tull  Executive Producer 
Scott Mednick  Executive Producer 
Diana Choi Sachs  Executive Producer 
Julia Roberts  Actor 
Nicolas Cage  Actor 
Meryl Streep  Actor 
Paul Giamatti  Actor 
Zach Tyler Eisen  Actor 
Regina King  Actor 
Bruce Campbell  Actor 
Lily Tomlin  Actor 
Cheri Oteri  Actor 
Larry Miller  Actor 
Allison Mack  Actor 
Ricardo Montalban  Actor 
Myles Jeffrey  Actor 
Jake T. Austin  Actor 
Rob Paulsen  Actor 
Scott S. Bullock  Actor 
Scott S. Bullock  Actor 
Mark de Carlo  Actor 
Frank Welker  Actor 
Frank Welker  Actor 
Frank Welker  Actor 
Paul Greenberg  Actor 
Paul Greenberg  Actor 
Paul Greenberg  Actor 
Paul Greenberg  Actor 
Paul Greenberg  Actor 
David Kaye  Actor 
David Kaye  Actor 
David Kaye  Actor 
Alfred Jackson  Actor 
Ken Mitchroney  Actor 
Ken Mitchroney  Actor 
Denzel Whitaker  Actor 
Casey Masamitsu  Actor 
Bryan Fabian  Actor 
Creagen Dow  Actor 
Jake Goldberg  Actor 
Jake Goldberg  Actor 
Jake Goldberg  Actor 
Keith Alcorn  Actor 
Keith Alcorn  Actor 
Keith Alcorn  Actor 
John A. Davis  Actor 
Tom Kenny  Actor 
Tom Kenny  Actor 
Tom Kenny  Actor 
Sarah Mensinga  Actor 
Nika Futterman  Actor 
Nika Futterman  Actor 
Scott Holst  Actor 
Susan Silo  Actor 
Paul Rugg  Actor 
Larry Cedar  Actor 
Nicole Sullivan  Actor 
Candi Milo  Actor 
Nissa Alcorn  Actor 
Patrick Fraley  Actor 
Tyler James Williams  Actor 
Jared Goldsmith  Actor 
Jared Goldsmith  Actor 
Austin Majors  Actor 
Jaishon Fisher  Actor 
Aaron Michael Drozin  Actor 
Max Burkholder  Actor 
Sam Green  Actor 
Colin Ford  Actor 
Kendall Sanders  Actor 
Shane Baumel  Actor 
Neil Ross  Actor 
Neil Ross  Actor 
Bob Joles  Actor 
Wally Wingert  Actor 
Leon Morenzie  Actor 
Jonathan Teague Cook  Actor 
Ken Mitchroney  Actor 
Sean Donnellan  Actor 
Tress MacNeille  Actor 
Richard Green  Actor 
Don Frye  Actor 
Clive Robertson  Actor 
Vernée Watson Johnson  Actor 

Country: USA