The Ant Bully (film)

Last updated

The Ant Bully
The Ant Bully theatrical poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John A. Davis
Screenplay byJohn A. Davis
Based on The Ant Bully
by John Nickle
Produced by
Starring
Edited byJon Price
Music by John Debney
Production
companies
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • July 28, 2006 (2006-07-28)
Running time
88 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million [1]
Box office$55.2 million [1]

The Ant Bully is a 2006 American animated fantasy adventure comedy film written and directed by John A. Davis and based on the 1999 children's book of the same name by John Nickle. Starring the voices of Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Bruce Campbell and Lily Tomlin, it was produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone, Davis and Keith Alcorn's DNA Productions, and Legendary Pictures in their first animated film, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Contents

Set in suburban Las Vegas, The Ant Bully follows Lucas Nickle (Zach Tyler Eisen), a 10-year-old destructive boy who is neglected by his family (Cheri Oteri and Larry Miller) and bullied by Steve (Myles Jeffrey) and his friends (Jake T. Austin). He attacks the nearby ant colony out of frustration, but Zoc (Cage), a wizard ant, creates a potion to shrink Lucas. After being shrunk by Zoc, Lucas must join forces with his new friends (Roberts, King, and Campbell) to defeat Stan Beals (Giamatti), an exterminator who threatens their colony upon signing the contract.

Released on July 28, 2006, The Ant Bully received mixed reviews from critics and became a box-office failure, grossing $55 million against its $50 million budget. Due to this, many DNA employees were laid off, leading to the studio's closure. This was Ricardo Montalbán's final film role before his death in 2009.

Plot

10-year-old Lucas Nickle is left with his older sister and grandmother when his parents go to Puerto Vallarta for their wedding anniversary. Neglected by his family and tormented by a local bully named Steve, Lucas takes his anger out on an anthill in his front yard. Zoc, an eccentric sorcerer ant, wants to fight back, while Hova, a nurse ant who is fascinated with humans, wishes to communicate with Lucas. The leaders of the colony decide to use a potion of Zoc's creation to shrink Lucas down to ant size.

The local exterminator, Stan Beals, manipulates Lucas into signing a contract for his services. That night, Zoc and a troop of ants administer the potion into Lucas's ear while he sleeps, leaving him miniaturized, and carry him to the anthill. Zoc insists that Lucas be studied and eaten, but the Queen sentences Lucas to hard labor. Hova volunteers to train Lucas, alongside her friends Kreela and Fugax. When the ants are attacked by wasps, Lucas uses a discarded firecracker to frighten them away, earning the respect of all but Zoc.

Lucas is shown paintings of the Ant Mother, who is prophesied to return to the colony and provide sustenance, and the Cloud-Breather, an ominous figure who heralds death. Recognizing the Cloud-Breather as Beals, Lucas convinces Hova, Fugax, and Kreela to visit his house and collect jelly beans. He attempts to terminate Beals' contract, but unknowingly calls a pizzeria instead. Upon their return, Zoc intimidates Lucas into running away, and Lucas is swallowed by a frog. Zoc frees Lucas by making the frog burp, and they begin to bond.

The following day, Beals arrives to exterminate the colony, and Lucas and Zoc enlist the wasps' aid. During the battle, Lucas saves the lives of Hova and an injured wasp. Just as Beals is about to douse the anthill with pesticide, a beetle bites him in the crotch, causing him to double over. Lucas, Zoc, and Hova inject Beals with the shrinking potion, leaving him severely disfigured. He escapes on a tricycle, pursued by the wasps.

The Queen pronounces Lucas an ant for his heroism, naming him "Rokai", and Zoc returns Lucas to normal size. Lucas finally stands up to Steve, whose friends turn on him, and showers the colony with jelly beans as a parting gift.

Voice cast

Additional voices were provided by Tyler James Williams, Jake Goldberg, Austin Majors, Jaishon Fisher, Tom Kenny, Neil Ross, Bob Joles, Wally Wingert, Leon Morenzie, Johnathan Cook, Clive Robertson, S. Scott Bullock, Susan Silo, Zack Shada, Max Burkholder, Benjamin Bryan, Jordan Orr, Candi Milo, Nika Futterman, Colin Ford, Nicole Sullivan, Pat Fraley, Paul Greenberg and David Kaye.

Production

Tom Hanks originally conceived the idea for an animated film adaptation after reading the book with his child. He then sent a copy to John A. Davis due to Davis' work on the animated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius . [2] Davis came up with a potential take on the story within a few days. "To be honest, when I first looked at it, I thought Oh, why does it have to be ants again?" said Davis. "But the more I thought about it, I said, So what? It's got as much to do with The Incredible Shrinking Man as it does the other bug movies. It's a completely different story." [3]

Hanks agreed that the story could be expanded considerably (the original book being around only 2,000 words). Keith Alcorn had a similar initial reaction to the project as Davis did. "My first thought," recalled Alcorn, "was, 'not another ant movie.' But looking at the actual story, this was really about a little boy and how he learns about the world by having to live beneath the surface." [4] Davis states that he felt like something of a hypocrite when, while he was working on the script, carpenter ants infested his house and he called an exterminator. [5]

The film was rendered on DNA Productions' 1400-CPU render farm, managed by the open-source Sun Grid Engine job scheduler. The nodes started out with Fedora Core 2 Linux with a modern 2.6.x kernel, but the new AMD Opteron nodes are running Fedora Core 4. Most of the applications are commercial, including Maya, Lightwave 3D, Houdini, Massive and Pixar’s RenderMan. [6]

Along with the theatrical release of The Ant Bully, an IMAX 3D version was presented in only some of the IMAX theaters. The others continued to run the 3D version of Superman Returns . The special IMAX 3D version was remastered in three dimensions with IMAX DMR. Critics within the 3D motion-picture community have given the film high marks, as unlike Superman Returns, the entire film is projected in 3D stereo. The process of turning a pure animation film into 3D is much simpler than converting a film with live actors. Some of the production took place at C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures in Canada.

Release

The film was theatrically released on July 28, 2006, by Warner Bros. Pictures, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 28, 2006, by Warner Home Video.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 62% approval rating, based on 118 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's consensus reads, "Sometimes inventive and witty, this animated adventure into an ant-sized world is a pleasant diversion." [7] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59/100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [8] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on a scale of A to F. [9]

Tom Long of the Detroit News wrote, "there's a sweet simplicity and humility to this film." [10]

Ruthe Stein of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "the brilliance of The Ant Bully is in the crafty way it delves into the minds of ants as they plot to save themselves from extermination...Davis creates a marvelously labyrinthine society for them, right below the surface of a bland suburb." [10]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly liked Roberts and Cage in their roles, and referred to Streep's queen ant as "excellently magisterial". She also wrote that "the kind of life lessons that usually gum up the fun go down as easily as jelly beans in The Ant Bully." [11] Jeffrey E. McCants of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote that "the film's heavy-handed lessons turn it from a fun romp through a cartoonish insect world to a predictable and preachy snoozefest". [12]

Bill Muller of The Arizona Republic wrote, "The Ant Bully, in trying to match Antz or A Bug's Life , just digs itself into a big hole." [13]

Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News was positive about the film's lack of pop-culture references and thought that the film does not "talk down" to children. Additionally, he noted, "adults may be amused (or maybe not) by the Christian parallel in the ants' religion." [14]

Box office

The film opened at number five on July 28, 2006, and closed on November 16, 2006, with $28 million in North America and a total of $55 million worldwide. The estimated production budget was $50 million. [15] The film was released in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2006, and only opened at number eight. [16]

Music

The Ant Bully: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by
John Debney
ReleasedAugust 1, 2006
Recorded2006
Genre Film Score
Length57:41 [17]
Label Varèse Sarabande
Producer John Debney
John Debney chronology
Chicken Little
(2005)		The Ant Bully: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2006)		 Barnyard
(2006)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [18]

The soundtrack's music score was composed and conducted by John Debney, who previously worked with Davis on Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. This film has no songs.

Video game

Games publisher Midway released The Ant Bully, the official video game tie-in to the film on GameCube, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, and Game Boy Advance on July 24, 2006. A Wii version was released on December 5, 2006. The game was developed by the Montreal Studio Artificial Mind and Movement.

See also

Related Research Articles

IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio and steep stadium seating, with the 1.43:1 ratio format being available only in few selected locations.

<i>Antz</i> 1998 DreamWorks Animation film

Antz is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, and Pacific Data Images, and distributed by the former via DreamWorks Distribution. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson from a screenplay written by Todd Alcott and the writing team of Chris and Paul Weitz. The film stars the voices of Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Danny Glover and Gene Hackman. Some of the main characters share facial similarities with the actors who voice them. The film involves an anxious worker ant, Z (Allen), who falls in love with Princess Bala (Stone). When the arrogant General Mandible (Hackman) attempts to seize control of the ant colony, Z must combine his desire for purpose with his inner strength to save everyone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hank Pym</span> Comic book superhero

Dr. Henry Jonathan Pym is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by penciller Jack Kirby, editor-plotter Stan Lee and writer Larry Lieber, Pym debuted in Tales to Astonish #27. He returned several issues later as the original iteration of Ant-Man, a superhero with the power to shrink to the size of an ant. He later assumed other superhero identities, including the size-changing Giant-Man and Goliath; the insect-themed Yellowjacket; and briefly, the Wasp. He is a founding member of the Avengers superhero team, and the creator of the robotic villain Ultron. He is also the ex-husband of Janet van Dyne and the father of Nadia van Dyne, his daughter by his first wife, Maria Pym.

<i>Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius</i> 2001 American computer-animated film

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, O Entertainment and DNA Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by John A. Davis and written by Davis, Steve Oedekerk, David N. Weiss, and J. David Stern based on a story conceived by Davis and Oedekerk. Its voice cast includes Debi Derryberry, Patrick Stewart, Martin Short, Rob Paulsen, and Jeffrey Garcia. The film follows the title character, a schoolboy with super-genius intelligence, who must save all of the parents of his hometown from a race of egg-like aliens known as the Yolkians.

John Alexander Davis is an American film director, writer, animator, voice actor and composer known for his work both in stop-motion animation as well as computer animation, live action and live-action/CGI hybrids. Davis is best known for creating Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron franchise, which enjoyed popularity in the early to mid 2000s.

Clive Gladstone Robertson is an English actor perhaps best known for his roles on the soap opera Sunset Beach, the Canadian science fiction series Starhunter, and the 2010 science fiction computer game Darkstar: The Interactive Movie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ant-Man</span> Comic book superhero

Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics.

<i>The Ant Bully</i> 1999 childrens book by John Nickle

The Ant Bully (ISBN 0590395912) is a 1999 children's book drawn and written by John Nickle. It is about a young boy named Lucas, who is the title character in the book and who likes to torment ants. It was later adapted into the 2006 animated film The Ant Bully by John A. Davis, produced by Legendary Pictures and DNA Productions for Warner Bros. Pictures.

DNA Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio and production company based in Irving, Texas. It was founded in 1987 by John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn. The studio originally worked on miscellaneous projects for other companies, including commercials and corporate videos, before branching out to television and film animation.

<i>The Ant Bully</i> (video game) 2006 video game

The Ant Bully is a video game based on the movie of the same name. It was released on July 24, 2006 alongside the theatrical release of the movie before becoming a game for the Wii on December of that same year. The story and actions of the game correspond to that of the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zach Tyler Eisen</span> American voice actor (born 1993)

Zachary Tyler Eisen is an American actor. He voiced Aang in Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lucas Nickle in The Ant Bully, Andrew in Little Bill and Pablo in the 2004 animated TV series The Backyardigans. His film roles include Entropy (1999) and Marci X (2003). While living in Connecticut, he did most of his Avatar: The Last Airbender recordings via satellite from there and New York. As of January 2021, he works in the entertainment industry "behind the camera".

Jake Goldberg is an American former child actor who is best known for voicing Pablo in the Nickelodeon animated series The Backyardigans and for portraying Greg Feder in Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2. On January 15, 2014, Goldberg was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award, along with the rest of the cast of the film Grown Ups 2. He attended the University of Colorado Boulder.

<i>Its Tough to Be a Bug!</i> 3D film at Disneys Animal Kingdom

It's Tough to Be a Bug! is a 3D film based on the 1998 Disney·Pixar film A Bug's Life. The attraction first opened with Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World on April 22, 1998, seven months before A Bug's Life debuted in theaters, and is housed within the theme park's icon, the Tree of Life. A second version of the attraction opened with Disney California Adventure on February 8, 2001, as part of the Bountiful Valley Farm area of the park, until A Bug's Land was built around it, and was housed inside the Bug's Life Theater. The attraction is Pixar's first presence in a Disney park. The film utilizes theater lighting, 3D filming techniques, audio-animatronics and various special effects and is hosted by Flik, an ant and the protagonist of A Bug's Life, who leads an educational presentation on why insects should be considered an important part of the lives of humans.

<i>Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds</i> 2010 French film

Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds is a 2010 English-language French live-action/animated fantasy film directed and co-written by Luc Besson, based on the fourth and final book of the Arthur children's books series by Besson. It is the sequel to Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009) and the third installment in the Arthur film series. The film was shot back-to-back with the previous installment. It is the last installment in the main series.

<i>Tea for Two Hundred</i> 1948 Donald Duck cartoon

Tea for Two Hundred is an American animated short film directed by Jack Hannah. Part of the Donald Duck film series, the film was produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on December 24, 1948. The cartoon stars a picnicking Donald Duck who faces an army of African ants trying to steal his food. Clarence Nash stars as Donald while the ants were voiced by Pinto Colvig. The film includes original music by Oliver Wallace.

Claudia Razzi is an Italian voice actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival</span> Annual film festival in Toronto, Canada (1994–2012)

The Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF), founded by Brenda Sherwood in 1994, was an annual film festival held over several days in Toronto, Ontario, in June, at The Annex-Yorkville area venues; including the Bloor Cinema, the University of Toronto, and the Isabel Bader Theatre, among others. As well as film screenings, the festival hosted parties and the CFC's annual picnic.

<i>Ant-Man</i> (film) 2015 Marvel Studios film

Ant-Man is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 12th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed from a screenplay by the writing teams of Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd. It stars Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man alongside Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. In the film, Lang must help defend Pym's Ant-Man shrinking technology and plot a heist with worldwide ramifications.

<i>Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants</i> 2013 film

Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants is a 2013 adventure family war comedy live action animated film based on the television series Minuscule. The film was written and directed by series creators Hélène Giraud and Thomas Szabo. It is a sound film with a synchronized soundtrack featuring music and sound effects and with little to no spoken dialogue. It won the César Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 40th César Awards. A sequel, Minuscule 2: Mandibles from Far Away, was released on January 30, 2019.

<i>Ant-Man and the Wasp</i> 2018 Marvel Studios film

Ant-Man and the Wasp is a 2018 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope Pym / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to Ant-Man (2015) and the 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed and written by the writing teams of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. It stars Rudd as Lang and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, alongside Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, David Dastmalchian, Tip "T.I." Harris, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale, Randall Park, Abby Ryder Fortson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Douglas. In the film, the titular pair work with Hank Pym (Douglas) to retrieve Janet van Dyne (Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Ant Bully". Box Office Mojo. April 20, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ Comingsoon.net, , Hanks and Davis on the Ant Bully, July 27, 2006
  3. ↑ Jenny Donelan, Computer Graphics World, September 2002, Volume 29 Number 9, pages 24–26
  4. ↑ John Cawley, Animation World Magazine, Archived December 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , July 28, 2006
  5. ↑ Kotek, Elliot V. (2006). "John A. Davis: Ant Bully's Architect". Moving Pictures Magazine. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  6. ↑ Dagdigian, Chris. "Making movies with Grid Engine". Grid Engine. Archived from the original on December 14, 2006. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ "The Ant Bully (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  8. ↑ "The Ant Bully". Metacritic .
  9. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  10. 1 2 The Ant Bully - Movie Reviews , retrieved September 25, 2019
  11. ↑ Entertainment Weekly, July 26, 2006
  12. ↑ "Jeffrey E. McCants Movie Reviews & Previews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  13. ↑ Azcentral.com, , accessed March 25, 2006[ dead link ]
  14. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/nydn-features/queen-mother-meryl-streep-movies-hit-theaters-summer-america-greatest-actress-hits-new-york-stage-mother-courage-children-article-1.627660/ [ dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Actuals (U.S.) Aug 4 - 6 weekend"
  16. ↑ "Weekend box office 4th August 2006 - 6th August 2006". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  17. ↑ "The Ant Bully - Original Score (2006)". Soundtrack.Net . Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  18. ↑ Phares, Heather. John Debney: The Ant Bully > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.