DVD Reviews

The Ant Bully

When I first saw the trailer to this film I thought, "Is this Ants?  Oh wait, it must be a sequel."  But afterwards I realised, this is a completely different film.  Why did we need another computer animated ant film?  First we had "A Bugs Life" which wasn't about ants particularly but did set the bar for computer animated bug films.  Then we had "Ants" which was a great film due a large part to the voice talents involved. So with all the different topics yet untouched by the computer animated film industry, why do another bug film?  Well, we may never know but if you keep reading, I'll let you know if I thought it was worth it.

When you're as small as an ant, the world is big - and adventure is bigger! That's what young Lucas learns after he aims his water pistol at some hapless ants. They retaliate with a secret potion that shrinks "the Destroyer" to their size.. and turns an anthill into a mountain of thrills, action and laughs!

The video is almost perfect.  As it should be considering its age and the fact that it's a digital source transferred to a digital source.  The picture comes to us in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is crisp, clean and beautifully coloured. The audio is almost as good.  It is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround.  The soundscape is quite vast but could have used a bit more use of the back speakers.  Low end is pretty decent as well.  Available languages include English, French and Spanish but I only listened to the English one.  Subtitles are also available in those three languages should you be interested.

In the extras department we are treated to "It Takes a Colony." This is a 16 minute making-of/ interview featurette.  Now I was very pleased by this particular extra.  The making-of segments themselves were extremely informative and indepths but the animated bug doing the interview made them very entertaining.  Nice touch!  There are seven animated shorts related to the Ant Bully but don't come close in terms of quality of animation.  They are cute but not the greatest.  There are 10 additional scenes that didn't make it to the final film.  They range in quality from drawn  storyboards to finished film quality animation.  Some might even be considered alternate scenes as they were in the film... just not quite the same way.  There's the theatrical trailer for Ant Bully as well as trailers for Unacompanied Minors, the Polar Express, Hoot, and Saving Shiloh. Last and pro! bably least the "Ant Habitat TV Screensaver." This final extra is a weird one.  When I first read it, I figured the DVD was DVD-Rom enhanced and this was something for your computer.  But then I saw it.  This is a screensaver for your television!  It really should have been longer but what is there is kinda cute but pretty much a waste of disc space.

This is far from the best animated film ever released.  It does have it's moments and it has a nice message for all the kiddies out there.  I found the animation to be slightly dispointing for a feature film release.  Had it been a direct to video release it would be above par quality but in this case, I found the animation of humans to be disapointing.  Definately a rental before purchase in my opinion.  The extras really could have been better but I give two thumbs up for "It Takes a Colony" which was one of the more informative and still enjoyable making-of featurettes I've seen.

 Review By Robert Harding