The Ant Bully (film)
2006 American animated film / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Ant Bully is a 2006 American animated film written and directed by John A. Davis and based on the 1999 children's book of the same name by John Nickle. Starring the voices of Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Bruce Campbell and Lily Tomlin, it was produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone, Davis and Keith Alcorn's DNA Productions, and Legendary Pictures in their first animated film, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The Ant Bully | |
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Directed by | John A. Davis |
Screenplay by | John A. Davis |
Based on | The Ant Bully by John Nickle |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Edited by | Jon Price |
Music by | John Debney |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $50 million[1] |
Box office | $55.2 million[1] |
Set in suburban Las Vegas, The Ant Bully follows Lucas Nickle (Zach Tyler Eisen), a 10-year-old destructive boy who is neglected by his family (Cheri Oteri and Larry Miller) and bullied by Steve (Myles Jeffrey) and his friends (Jake T. Austin). He attacks the nearby ant colony out of frustration, but Zoc (Cage), a wizard ant, creates a potion to shrink Lucas. After being shrunk by Zoc, Lucas must join forces with his new friends (Roberts, King, and Campbell) to defeat Stan Beals (Giamatti), an exterminator who threatens their colony upon signing the contract.
It was the last film role by Ricardo Montalbán, before his death on January 14, 2009. Released on July 28, 2006, The Ant Bully received mixed reviews from critics, with praise aimed at the vocal performances, animation, music, and humor, but criticism for its dialogue and script, its lack of faithfulness to the source material and the execution of its premise. It was also a box-office bomb, grossing $55.2 million against its $50 million budget. Due to this, most of the DNA employees were laid off and the studio was closed.