JOHN A. DAVIS

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

USA, 2006.  Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Playtone, DNA Productions.  Screenplay by John A. Davis, based on the book by John Nickle.  Cinematography by Ken Mitchroney.  Produced by John A. Davis, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks.  Music by John Debney.  Production Design by Barry E. Jackson.  Film Editing by Jon Price.  

If you’re the member of the audience who laughs at lines like “I said cross your heart, not your butt!” being said by a child to an ant, you’ll get lots of enjoyment from this tale aimed at the small fries. For everyone else it’s a well-drawn but ultimately soulless exercise in the collection of animated films about anthropomorphous critters that doesn’t have half the heart of the highly superior A Bug’s Life. A bespectacled boy who is constantly being picked on by bullies takes his internalized anger out on an anthill on his front lawn, and is then taught a lesson when the wizard ant of the colony (voiced with charisma by Nicolas Cage) casts a spell and reduces him to their size. The boy is forced to do penance for his wickedness by becoming an ant worker under the tutelage of the wizard’s kindly girlfriend (Julia Roberts) until he can learn to see things from the point of view of those he once oppressed.