The Ant Bully

Last weekend I took the boys to see The Ant Bully. I didn't have high expectations for the film. The kids liked it well enough but have already forgotten about it. I, on the other hand, can't stop thinking about it. It was dull. It was a complete retread of A Bug's Life with a little bit of Antz and Over the Hedge. So they lost me by being a boring copy of other films.

But I'm stuck on the message. In the film a young boy, who is the victim of bullying, turns his fury on an anthill by flooding it with a garden hose. The ants decide to shrink him to their size and take him. They originally hoped to kill and eat him. Then they decide that he must "become an ant." He finally succeeds by helping the ants beat the tar out of an exterminator and run him off.

So what's the message here? The weak can prevail if they band together and commit kidnapping and assault? Beating up little kids is bad but beating up grown ups is okay? The ends justify the means?