BBB
(out of 5)
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.
Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Playtone, DNA Productions
USA, 2006
Directed by John A. Davis
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
