MOVIE REVIEW: Minuscule: The Valley of The Lost Ants

When it comes to film, the first thought that pops up in one’s mind once French movies are mentioned would be silent movies. Typically rendered in black and white, audacious and ambitious plots that interlace the lives of the main character are commonly seen with this kind of movies. However, with the CG-animated film Minuscule: The Valley of The Lost Ants, Helene Giraud and Thomas Szabo showed that going out of the norm with such twists would turn out to be different and amazing.

Set in the world of insects(reminiscent of A Bug’s Life and Antz), the movie tells a story about the adventure of a ladybug upon being friends with a group of ants, in which kids, as young as three and kids by heart will surely have no worries on comprehending.

The film depicts a group of black ants discovering a box of sugar cubes. But before they can get away with their most coveted treasure, a stray ladybug gets trapped inside the box and soon is carried away with the black ants to their colony. However, they find themselves crossed by a group of red ants, and it’s up to this ladybug to survive, and well, help his newfound family save their treasure and home.

Labeling it as simple ain’t enough to describe this animated flick, but also how inventive the wall to wall creativity in creating such almost natural scenes of the French country side. From the swooping widescreen shots of the stunning gardens and parks (the opening scene features the Mercantour and Ecrins National Parks) to the miniature yet, authentic details of the soil, rivers and grasses, all was splendidly presented.

And most of all, this friendly movie had a cast of insects, that didn’t speak but were happily tooting their thoughts from start to finish. Our unlikely ladybug hero has a flair for slapstick antics that goes with the perfectly timed toots, musical background, and sound effects that would make you laugh at the same time. Not only that, the expressions that were shown by the characters, without being all frenzy and glamorous, are accentuated by their behavior and design.

But the highlight of this film is to make the chase of the evil red ants to the black ants, ingeniously enjoyable and realistic – which seems like a reference to the chases and battle scenes(if not, might remind you) from Star Wars, Close Encounters, or maybe, that siege at the red ants’ colony would definitely remind you of The Fall of Roman Empire, or an attack done in Troy.

In the micro-world of insects, it is very hard to exaggerate their behaviour, especially if you want to channel a human expression, however the simplicity and cleverness of this movie made this task easier to carry. There were no exaggerations made, and the virtual props made the audience feel the all-natural settings. Miniscule is truly a movie that goes beyond the customary works of silent movies, with a touch of a child-like cleverness and simple story that we all encountered in life.