| 100 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
Family entertainment at its best.
|
| 83 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
It may be too intense at times for wee ones, but kids of 5 and up testing the limits of their independence in the big world should relate to Lucas, dig the crazy insect world and embrace the imagination behind the colorful adventure.
|
| 83 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
An effortlessly clever animated confection.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The movie is an epic adventure with a rigorously moral point of view.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
While "Cars" may have the most elaborate CGI effects of the season, and "Monster
House?" the most original character (the house), The Ant Bully can lay claim
to the most entertaining story and most rewarding ending.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
The movie has a great time playing with ideas of scope and perspective, shifting between microscopic and macroscopic.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Based on John Nickle's children's book, this computer-animated comedy starts slowly but builds into a rousing adventure capped with just the right measure of sweetness.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Wittily manipulating scale to generate the requisite fright factor, the movie is stuffed with visual delights both lyrical (a squadron of ants hang-gliding on flower petals) and visceral (a battalion of bottle-blue wasps on the wing).
|
| 70 |
Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
It's a kids' movie for kids, and Davis approaches it as though he and his cast are merely storytellers trying to reach kids rather than show-offs trying to impress their parents.
|
| 67 |
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
A derivative little tale with enough good intentions to recommend it, but not enough substance to embrace it.
|
| 63 |
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Ant Bully, while not wildly fresh or inventive, is entertaining and energetic.
|
| 63 |
Miami Herald
Peter Debruge
Writer/director John A. Davis (Jimmy Neutron) is a wizard at transforming the most mundane setting -- the front yard, for crying out loud -- into another world.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Take "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," throw some "Antz" on it, and you have The Ant Bully.
|
| 63 |
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The screenplay is blessedly free of mediocre songs and light on flashy pop-culture in-jokes.
|
| 58 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tasha Robinson
In spite of its predictability, it's a nifty story in the abstract, and Davis certainly makes the most of the opportunity to examine the world from an ant's-eye view.
|
| 50 |
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Why bother with wit, intelligence, and emotion when children will be equally entertained by pretty images, colorful action, and the obligatory poop joke?
|
| 50 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
Feels anonymously generic and charmlessly mechanical.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Justin Chang
Lovely to look at but a headache to listen to.
|
| 50 |
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
In the end, though, The Ant Bully is adequate rather than enchanting. Unsure of its ability to charm, it compensates with noise, sentiment and low humor, the usual synthetic stew served to children,
|
| 50 |
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
There's nothing outstandingly good or bad about the film.
|
| 50 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
This generic exercise in computer-generated animation may provide passable entertainment for very young children, but adults will be less than enchanted by its preachiness, talkiness and Communist Party-line political views.
|
| 50 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
Three years in the making, seems fussed over and, occasionally, a little dull.
|
| 40 |
Empire
Olly Richards
As kiddie entertainment it works well, with simple humour and lots of action. But there's not a lot to appeal to any accompanying adults.
|
| 40 |
Film Threat
Michael Ferraro
The Ant Bully, though short and well voiced, is nowhere near as important or influential as it tries to make itself seem and it feels more unnecessary than anything else.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It all adds up to a peculiar whole; fun I suppose, but not what you'd call a picnic.
|
| 38 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
It lacks a sharp look and satisfyingly fleshed-out story and compensates with one numbing round of insect- or human-based peril after another.
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