Antboy (2013) Reviews

• Excellent Movie...Critics Too Harsh

  somedaze-200-7673682014-12-31

  This is an excellent movie more attuned for children but cute/watchable for adults as well.. Critics forget what children like. They compare this to Spiderman because they want to see a Spiderman type of superhero movie that entertains adults. When they don't get that, they decide to tear into the movie saying it's a Spiderman ripoff. Sorry, critics, superhero movies, like they use to make them, can be built for children without implied sexuality, bad language, and soaked in darkness. This movie was beautifully shot and didn't need high tech gadgetry to entertain well. It was funny too (e.g. the kid's oblivious loser parents). It's also original (or at least unusual) in having a child portray a superhero.

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• Totally watchable

  facundo362015-09-06

  I've just seen Antboy and as expected, doesn't bring anything new to the super-heroic genre. It doesn't even bring anything new to the whole movie-about-child genre. But there's where the really interesting part is. All in all i feel like Antboy is a love letter to the superheroes stories most of us grew up with. It has almost every cliché from every single superhero movie you can remember without googling, and that's the reason that makes it so fun to watch. It might not be the best acting performance you'll ever see, but the kids are cool and the script is quite consistent all around. The tone is set properly and after seeing the trailer for the upcoming sequel i confirm what i said above. It's a fun, entertaining movie that doesn't bring any surprises but doesn't fall apart either (did anybody say Crap-tastic Four?). I would totally recommend it to someone who really loves superhero comics/movies. The rest might (and will) find it dull. In a few words: Antboy is to the superhero genre what Fanboys is to Star Wars.

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• Spider Man meets Kick-Ass

  Horst_In_Translation2014-09-15

  And the result is Antboy in this danish superhero movie aimed at younger audiences. Of course, it does not have the financial possibilities of the real huge superhero blockbusters (despite winning the prestigious Visual Effects award at the Danish Film Prize, hear hear), but it makes up for these with lots of charm and humor. The kids all give good performances and the main character is pretty likable. My favorite part was how his interest changes from the Barbie-like girl that everybody adores to her adventurous sister. The little Barbie wants Ant Boy to kiss her, but he suddenly has no interest in her anymore and asks for the other girl, after which the Barbie girl, just reacts in a bit of a bitchy way that she calls her sister and that somebody wants to visit her. The main villain (Nicolas Bro, one of Denmarks most famous actors right now worked with Spielberg and von Trier recently) to Antboy is huge mixture between human and flea, kinda perfect, a bit scary, but not too much and also mostly in a funny weird way. Quite a character this flea. The final message on friendship is a nice one, although it appears a bit random and only included for the sake of it without really much convincing story dependence, especially as the other boy was much more of a friend to Antboy than to the main character. In Denmark this film must have been quite a success as for Christmas 2014, there will be a sequel coming out. Hopefully they manage to make this work too. Nicolas Bro will be back, so maybe the ant and the flea will clash again. Antboy 1 is the first feature film, after some short film work, for director Ask Hasselbach. The writing staff is prominent too and has been featured before on the original "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" for example. If you like superhero movies, this one deserves definitely a look. It's very different and at the same time refreshing. In Germany there is quite a few decent children's movies based on books coming out and here finally is one from north the border. The runtime is clearly under 90 minutes, so it's even a good choice for those who struggle with movies that drag a lot. This one does not and I would not want to cut out a single scene. Recommended.

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• Has an unexplainable charm...

  monkweirdo2017-02-24

  While the acting is horrible, the story is bit dumb and is filled with logical flaws, it indeed has a charm. I'm happy I found this on TV once. The characters are quite interesting, the villain is relatable, the hero is quite unique. The 2nd episode is much better but I'd give this one a 9/10 too.

• Antboy, with a strong parallel to the Spiderman story.

  TxMike2015-10-17

  I found this movie on Netflix streaming movies. Ever since I was a small boy I have enjoyed the escapism that superhero stories provide. This one is in Danish but was dubbed very well into English. Oscar Dietz is Pelle Nøhrmann, and much like Peter Parker in 'Spiderman' is small and meek and mostly overlooked by his classmates. One day he is running home from the two bully brothers when he ducks through some bushes to hide. While there he gets bit by a large ant and, much like the spider this ant has been genetically altered. Pelle falls asleep in the yard and when he finally heads home just wants to go to bed. The ant's powers have begun to alter his body and the next day finds he has super strength for his size, like an ant does, and his fuel is sugar. Along with his good friend they think up a name and come up with Antboy when he is in costume. So this movie, relatively short at just over one hour, mostly establishes Antboy and how he got his powers. In this story he has to fight the Fleaman who had kidnapped a classmate of Pelle's and eventually get him arrested and sent to jail. While I enjoyed this movie enough it is probably best for children. I plan to also see the next one, "Revenge of the Red Fury." And I see Antboy III is in post-production.

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