3 of 3

You may find that there's something familiar about The Ant Bully. The bugs in this film are stylized just like the ants of the 1998 animated feature Antz, which featured an all-star voice cast, including Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, and Gene Hackman. The Ant Bully features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep, and it is winning a lot of fans amongst critics.

"Go to the ant, thou bully; consider her ways, and be wise!" writes Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies). "That, in a nutshell, is the lesson of The Ant Bully. … The screenplay … is as obvious and direct as they come. But the animation is a pure delight, especially if you happen to enjoy looking at the world through a microscope."

Christopher Lyon (Plugged In) turns in a similar response, using the same scriptural reference (Proverbs 6:6). He concludes, "It might not hang with the best-looking films in the exploding category of digital animation, but Bully's world is bright, colorful, and detailed enough not to distract us from the storytelling. And what a fun, mostly positive, mostly kid-friendly story it is."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) writes, "The animation is imaginative and vibrant, highlighted by a terrific climax. … Annoying pop-culture references are thankfully absent. But, surprisingly, the A-list voice talent gives bland performances and the writing is less than sharp." He adds, "The film's subtext seems to be saying something about nations' abuse of power. … Of course any such political implication will be lost on the kiddies, whose antennae will be tuned to the story's simpler might-doesn't-make-right moral."

Lisa Rice (Crosswalk) says the movie "falls short. First, there's something unsettling to people of faith to see that Hollywood continues to rely on wizards and potions, alchemy and incantations to move a plot along. Have we not found more creative alternatives?" She's also uncomfortable with the way the ants praise their queen as "queen of queens," and say "Praise the mother." Finally, she says, "[T]here is something nebulously contrived, mechanical, and overdone about the story, and the writers seem to rely heavily on scatological humor to juice up their formulaic script."

Mainstream critics are pleased, if not enthusiastic, about The Ant Bully.

first page |  3 of 3