TERRIFIC `ANT BULLY' TEACHES SMALL BUT MIGHTY LESSONS.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Late in arriving but no less welcome for it, ``The Ant Bully'' is the summer's best family movie -- funny, action-packed, sometimes disgusting, sometimes affecting.

Most of all it's just a great story, brought to the screen with precision by writer-director John A. Davis.

Davis, best-known for his work on the ``Jimmy Neutron'' television series and movie, does a marvelous job of taking author John Nickle's children's book and expanding its premise of an ant colony's revenge on a lost little boy. And while the movie is primarily an adventure romp, it contains a sly message of selflessness, teamwork and community. Yes, these ants may be red, but you don't have to be a communist to appreciate the film's emphasis on measuring one's actions against the greater good.

Ten-year-old Lucas (Zach Tyler Eisen in a dynamic vocal turn) has never thought much about others. He has no friends, his parents pay him little attention, and a neighborhood bully delights in giving him atomic wedgies. Lucas takes out his frustrations on an anthill in his front yard, echoing the bully's taunts as he sprays water on the colony: ``What are you gonna do about it, ants? Because I'm big and you're little.''

Not for long. The colony's resident wizard, Zoc (Nicolas Cage), devises a magic potion that shrinks Lucas to ant size. The boy is taken deep below the anthill, where a tribunal reads him his crimes, which include dousing the ants with the ``dreaded yellow rain.'' The queen (Meryl Streep) sentences Lucas to live and work in the colony in order to change his nature. Sympathetic Nurse Ant Hova (Julia Roberts) is charged with developing some empathy in the kid the ants call ``The Destroyer.''

Obviously, ``The Ant Bully'' is going to contain some echoes of previous movies like ``Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,'' ``A Bug's Life'' and ``Antz.'' But Davis has turned out a highly original piece of work, a movie that feels much more cohesive than many animated films simply because it was largely the work of one man and not a writing committee.

Davis pulls no punches, making Lucas initially unsympathetic, though given his environment, you could see how the kid might have some pent-

up anger. He's not exactly a quick learner, either, but after his first full day as a miniature boy, we see him looking up to the nighttime heavens, saying, ``Everything else looks different, but it's the same sky, the same stars.'' It's the kind of quiet, profound little moment that makes this movie something special.

Of course, the film's material also caters to the scatological set, and sports a number of thrilling action scenes. Kids won't be bored, that's for sure, particularly if they see ``The Ant Bully'' in IMAX 3-D, which spectacularly renders the film's flying squadrons of wasps and darting frogs' tongues. When Lucas sprays water on the anthill, the results are more terrifying than anything pictured in ``Poseidon.''

Your kids are going to love it.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

THE ANT BULLY - Three and one half stars

(PG: some mild rude humor and action)

Starring: Voices of Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Zach Tyler Eisen, Meryl Streep.

Director: John A. Davis.

Running time: 1 hr. 28 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Thrilling family adventure romp with a nice message about selflessness, teamwork and community. The summer's best family film.

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After a spiteful young boy floods an ant colony with his water gun, he's magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labor in the ruins in ``The Ant Bully.''