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It's worth scurrying to see 'The Ant Bully'

Is there something about computer animation artists — untold numbers of whom drone away anonymously, contributing their tiny bit to a large common chore — that makes them particularly sensitive to the plight of ant colonies?

Warner Bros. Pictures 'The Ant Bully' 3 out of 5 stars The verdict: Mounds of big-name voice talent. Director: John A. Davis Starring: Lily Tomlin, Larry Miller, Julia Roberts, Zach Tyler Eisen, Cheri Oteri Run time: 88 minutes Release date: July 28, 2006 Rating: PG for some mild rude humor and action. See showtimes Know your ants With three animated ant films in eight years, you need a guide to this popular pest. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Back in 1998, near the dawn of the CG 'toon boom, ants starred in the double-header of "Antz" and "A Bug's Life." Now the picnic invaders return in "The Ant Bully," which depicts them as members of a noble civilization that (as you might guess if you watch many animated features) could teach their human oppressors a thing or two about teamwork and civic harmony.

The oppressor in question here is a boy named Lucas, who gets plenty of abuse in the world of human kids and vents his resentment by flooding an ant mound in his yard. Unbeknownst to him (and to scientists who study the little things) the ant world consists not only of scouts, workers and queens but of powerful wizards — one of whom, Zoc, hatches a plan to set things straight.

Zoc brews a pair of potions, one that shrinks creatures and one that enlarges them. Sadly, he and his pals don't take the latter and wreak "Them"-style havoc on Suburbia. Instead, they take their cue from "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids": They sneak into Lucas' bedroom and cut him down to their size, swearing they won't undo the magic until he knows what it's like to be an ant.

The film then follows a familiar arc toward atonement that, while it never approaches a Pixar level of wit, has its high points. The filmmakers (led by writer/director John A. Davis) have a lot of fun appropriating the look and feel of disaster movies to show how things that look trivial at our scale become catastrophes under a magnifying glass; they also stage a rousing bit of aerial combat toward the end, when Lucas must lead his new friends against a pesticide-spraying human.

That exterminator is voiced enthusiastically by Paul Giamatti, part of a surprisingly star-heavy voice cast — from Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep to cult hero Bruce Campbell, and even Khan himself, Ricardo Montalban. Only a couple of the heavy-hitters are used very well by the film, unfortunately. But while individual characters come off as fairly generic, the film's overall look boasts some punchy colors and texture.

Parents might resent how many cheap laughs come at the expense of Lucas' batty old grandmother, a conspiracy nut who is supposed to be watching the kids during mom and dad's vacation but can barely keep up with her false teeth. But on the whole "The Ant Bully" is the kind of family-friendly stuff audiences expect: lively enough to pass a summer afternoon, but unlikely to move kids so much they want to start ant colonies in the kitchen pantry.