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Imagination returns to animation with 'The Ant Bully'
by Eleanor Ringel Gillespie

It's taken a while, but the summer has finally coughed up a truly imaginative animated feature. Based on a book by John Nickle that producer Tom Hanks used to read to his son, "The Ant Bully" is the tale of 10-year-old Lucas (voiced by Zach Tyler), a bespectacled pipsqueak with too-busy parents, a "whatever" older sister and a neighborhood bully who constantly torments him. Enduring such daily humiliation, Lucas in turn takes out his frustrations on a nearby ant hill. But he has no idea what sort of havoc he wreaks. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
New in town, friendless and tormented by a neighborhood bully, young Lucas Nickle has been taking out his frustration on the innocent ant hill in his yard. But one day the ants retaliate. Using a magic potion, they shrink Lucas down to ant size and sentence him to live like an ant in their colony.

FILM FACTS ...

Warner Bros. Pictures

'The Ant Bully'

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

READ THE REVIEW

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B
"... the first of the summer's many animated features that doesn't somehow feel familiar."

Read the full review

Austin American-Statesman: 3 of 5 stars
"... 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."