The Ant Bully (2006)

20110120:
I think this movie ceased to be great the moment magic was introduced. While I'm not opposed to movies that contain magic, I usually expect magic in a setting that is open to magic. Lord of the Rings, for example, is a world in which magic exists. The world of The Ant Bully, however, is practically the real world. In addition to the magic, the shrinking also bothered me. There are situations where I wouldn't be bothered by shrinking. For example, Alice shrinking and growing in Alice in Wonderland is acceptable. I can sense the world in which Alice is shrinking and growing is fictional. However, in The Ant Bully or Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), I begin to question the physics. How does one shrink an object? Assuming it was possible, then there would be biological issues. Such as, how does a proportionally shrunken human breathe and eat. Of course fairies such as Tinkerbell are not human and are exempt from the issue altogether. I suppose if I wanted to convince myself shrinking was possible, then somehow during the shrinking process, biological processes would have to be shrunken and compacted and necessarily you should lose intelligence. There should also be a limit. Wikipedia.org says the smallest primate has an average body length of 3.2 inches.

This fictional aspect aside, I haven't seen fireflies that are smaller than ants. In the movie, the firefly is about as small as an ant's head.

I found it ridiculous to suddenly see the protagonist climb like an ant and carry the wasp.

In contrast to this movie, Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998) doesn't seek realism, and in that sense makes a more believable and charming story. The ants only have four appendages! In addition, I would say there were more characters linked into the main story in A Bug's Life than in The Ant Bully. I was really expecting a scene where the team of foraging ants would help the protagonist, but that didn't happen. I was looking for more of a transition in the protagonist learning teamwork.

I don't know how to describe the queen ant... She's a little scary.

The end credits look nice. It is done in the style of the wall paintings shown during one of the scenes in the movie.

[20110121]

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Watched 20110120 (Netflix, Instant)
The Ant Bully (2006) John A. Davis. 88 min [bot children's book otsn (1999) by John A. Davis]

Relevant Links:
The Ant Bully (IMDb.com)
The Ant Bully (film) (Wikipedia.org)
The Ant Bully (Wikipedia.org)