For the child in all of us

Full-length animated features seem to be the thing this year. As in previous years, a handful of animated films enjoy the big budget promotional push. This year has seen an unusual high number of animated films making their respective bids for the family movie-going budget.

Warner Brothers Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ The Ant Bully is co-produced by Tom Hanks. Reading the John Nickle storybook to his child inspired him to envision it as a film project.

Having Tom on board also meant that a number of heavyweight Hollywood luminaries are involved in the film adaptation. Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Bruce Campbell and Lily Tomlin are among the cast of voices for this outing. Zach Tyler Eisen is the voice of main character Lucas Nickler.

I had the chance to catch the full-length 3D version of the film at the IMAX Theater at SM Mall of Asia and my boys unanimously agreed it did make for a more fulfilling cinematic experience. My youngest, Luca, was perpetually flinching as the water and insects would seem to be leaping off the screen and landing on our laps, and he would reach out and try to catch in his hand the IMAX trademark.

On a sidebar note, IMAX has been a rousing success story. Ric Camaligan was proud to inform me that their first Hollywood feature, Superman Returns, actually enjoyed the best first seven days ticket attendance among all IMAX theaters globally. There are about 255 theaters worldwide.

As with most animated success stories like Shrek, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, The Ant Bully has that blend of strong thematic messages, cutesy animation and broad humor. There’s a strong element of having created a variation on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but with the ants doing the shrinking; but by and large, the strong characterizations and lush visuals carry the movie. To summarize, Lucas is bullied by the neighborhood, and to vent his frustration, he "tortures" insects. They get their revenge when they shrink him down to their size, and make him work with them in the ant colony. While this one will appeal more to the children, there is enough "magic" to hold adult viewers’ interest.

The subliminal message is about how things get accomplished, even against seemingly insurmountable odds, when those with differences can work together, and how friendship, acceptance and courage are all part of "growing up."

What "magic" there is comes more in the form of special moments interspersed throughout the film. There’s the play on words as when swallowed by a frog, inhabitants of the frog’s digestive system joke about becoming "toadstool." Or the delighted disgust that crept on my children’s faces as they saw where the delicious "honeydew" bubbles Lucas was sharing with the "main ants" were coming from.

When Lucas brings his new friends on an expedition into his house, he sees the family photo and begins to tear. Hova (Roberts) registers concern, asking why his face is leaking. These all add up to the two cultures, human and ant, finding that the world of differences can be bridged when compassion and understanding hold sway.

The Ant Bully will certainly not set new standards for animation, and neither does it linger long after one has left the theater. But it is a more than a competent film with strong enough messages for the children and the "child in all of us." Viewing it at the IMAX Theater was certainly a boon to enjoying the film. So if you haven’t yet done the IMAX experience, this is a great film for your "baptism." Superman Returns consisted of some 20 minutes of 3D footage, while all of Ant Bully is in 3D!