Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants

I am the big fan of the television short-video series 'Minuscule'. I watched all of them like a kid when it was aired in my country on Nickelodeon. Along with me everyone in my family loved it and each of us like different characters. So we all expected this movie from the very beginning when they announced the project. The wait is over, I saw it a couple of days ago and I totally loved it.

It was the best choice of characters for the movie over plenty of tiny creatures are desperate to debut on the silver screen. They chose ants and ladybugs and their adventures filled with lots of humour. This was the story of a young ladybug who got separated from his parents. He meets a pack of black ants who are on a hunt for food, then they team up and help each other to face the challenge that coming in their way to home. Especially red ants who are on the trail to snatch their finds. This running and chasing between two small groups of creature becomes a crucial war between those races.

If you are familiar with this TV series, then you will clearly understand the characters and their behaviour. Not much deviated, they kept as much the original except stretched to 90 minutes runtime. The story was largely inspired from 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. Each section of the story telling reminds different episode of 'The Lord of the Rings'. First, it begins with 'The Fellows of the Sugar Cubes', then 'The Single Tower' and ends with 'The Return of the Queen'. All the way it was so much fun like you had for the TV series.

No need to worry for the first time watcher, especially who are unfamiliar with these little characters. It was more like another version that you had seen in the Hollywood animations 'Antz', 'A Bug Life' 'Bee Movie' et cetera. The best part of all of it was this movie was dialogueless. No speaking, no names and no hard-coded subs. It only features amusing sounds created by the bugs and the wonderful background scores. It's a universal theme and presentation without any language barriers.

A specially made movie for children with fine story. In company of them adults as well can enjoy it equally. One of the best animation movie, in fact the best children's movie of the year. Hope this title continues with many sequels in which each of the installments should brief different bug's or insect's tales. A must show to the kids and must see by the animation movie fans. Have this and have a great time.

This film is simply wonderful! I loved it, and I'm certain you will too...

The animation is done via a technique I haven't seen before, whereby animation is used over real backdrops and though it is done simply, it looks fantastic, absolutely gorgeous.

There is no dialogue at all, only sounds and music. But how cute these characters are and how smart this movie is. It really has everything from heartfelt, sad moments and dreams, to very funny laugh out loud moments. I actually smiled and laughed my way through this movie form the very beginning. I actually can't remember the last time I saw a movie which made my smile so much.

The story is very simple and as mentioned, there is no dialogue, but the film is so captivating and fast moving and full to the brim with so many beautiful and funny scenes.. and the greatest thing about it all is any age group will love it. You could watch this with everyone in your family, regardless of age. They will all love it.

Overall Opinion: An absolute joy to watch! Faultless. You need to get on it asap!

For a movie that blends CGI with real world shots, this is a very well done venture. The landscape is very beautiful, the music is delightful and there is a serene quality to the movie that would sooth your senses in the long run. As another reviewer mentioned, there was no real point to putting up racing car sounds to flying bugs but this is brief. There is no dialogue at all so its just sit back and follow the way these bugs communicate though whistles and chirps. Its a nice tale of friendship and I have to commend the director for this innovative venture. The final war scene between the red and the black ants is hilarious so I would highly recommend watching till the end.

Totally loved this movie, didn't know what to expect but was thrilled, charmed and amazed throughout. Cinematography is beautiful and the attention to detail astonishing, a lot of hard work has gone into this production and it really shows. Loved the personality's of each insect and although you need to suspend complete disbelief at what they achieve during the course of the movie it doesn't detract from a visual treat that is accomplished with zero dialogue from beginning to end, yes, no words from beginning to end and still a brilliant movie. Simply put, the best real film footage with CGI animation that I've ever seen - Kudos to the makers of this highly original film.

Hélène Giraud and Thomas Szabo wrote and directed this highly unusual French film. Although the subject matter is rather familiar (with prior CGI films like Antz and A Bug's Life), the style and content is like nothing I've ever seen before—and this is, by far the biggest strength of this cute little film. However, I must warn you that initially I hated this film, as the beginning was loud and not especially enjoyable— but keep watching…it will grow on you!

When the film begins, it begins with a normal setting out in the countryside. This is not CGI but real film. However, throughout the film the two are integrated together. When you see the world from a human's point of you, it's standard film. When it goes to the micro world of insects, the CGI is used. It's a very clever way to do the movie and it works very well. However, what did NOT work well for me were all the sound effects for the racing bugs. Using automobile sound effects seemed a bit heavy-handed and silly. Fortunately, this soon gave way to a strange sort of world where instead of voices (like you'd hear in films like A Bug's Life), you hear a combination of odd whistles and chirps. It's strange but works—especially since this makes the film much more universal than a typical animated film. There's simply no need to re-dub or caption the movie! I should also note that I did NOT see this in 3D—and assume that would have improved it…at least a bit.

The plot to Minuscule is not so childish or anthropomorphic as the other insect films I mentioned. In fact, the plot is amazingly simple. A group of black ants (along with their friend, a lady bug) find a lunch box filled with sugar and take it back to their colony. However, a group of red ants are NOT pleased—it should be their sugar and if the black ants take it, it's war!!

What follows is a very surreal war between the colonies—and the film improved tremendously. This is because all pretext for realism goes out the window and the movie really won me over! After all, MOST insect battles do not involve bugs bringing cans of insect spray, slingshots and firecrackers to the conflict! Who's going to win? See the film for yourself.

The best thing about the film is simply how different it is from everything else. Too often films are derivative and familiar—something that bores me to death. However, here the filmmakers manage to create something wholly new and clever. The CGI is lovely—and different from what you'd see from Dreamworks, Disney or Pixar. More noticeable is the music. It's almost magical and so unlike the typical child-oriented CGI film. It's instead very classically inspired and perfect for the film. Finally, the film has a cute sense of humor. While I don't think it's a comedy or is meant as one, I loved the expressions on the faces of the red ants. Despite a few slow moments here and there and the rough start, this is really a film to see. Will it appeal to little kids? Maybe not. But for older kids, teens and adults who want something different and not cloyingly sweet but still family-friendly, it's well worth seeing. Vive la différence!