CinemaNerdz

Trailer Trashin’: Bugs Go to War in the Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants International Trailer

Timothy Monforton

Hello again, dear readers, and I hope a lot of you have kicked off your summer movie season by seeing Captain America: Civil War. But even with all the big blockbusters coming our way, it’s good to also pay attention to smaller films. Such is the case with this week’s Trailer Trashin’ column, where I take a look at the international trailer for the French-Belgian animated film Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants.

Premise: In a peaceful little clearing, the remains of a hastily-abandoned picnic spark warfare between two tribes of ants. A bold young ladybug finds himself caught in the middle of the battle. He befriends Mandible, one of the black ants, and helps him save the anthill from the assault of the terrible red ant warriors, led by the fearful Butor.

My take: If this looks familiar to you, there’s a good reason for that. Minuscule is a series of short videos which depict a humorous take on the lives of insects and other arthropods, using a combination of computer-generated characters and footage of real scenery. The program originated in France, but it was shown on television in many other countries, including the United States, where it was shown on Disney Channel and ABC. Minuscule has also led to a feature film, Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, which “shares the same creative universe” as the series. The film actually was released in French theaters back in January 2014, but it’s now coming to theaters in the UK, hence this international trailer.

I love the look and feel of the film that we see here. The insect characters – the ladybug, ants, flies, and all the others – are stylized enough to be cute and endearing, but what they’re supposed to be is still clear. Like the original short videos, the film has a synchronized soundtrack that uses music and sound effects but no spoken dialogue. I think this approach is great, because it allows the humor to work without any kind of language barrier. From the black ant bouncing off the lid of the lunchbox after discovering the sugar, to the fish running headfirst into the rock while chasing the ladybug, to the ladybug taunting the flies after they hit the car headlight, all the jokes here worked. And like in the original shorts, the characters are humorously anthropomorphized. This is best shown by the red ants using various weapons to lay siege to the black ants’ nest, such as firecrackers and bundles of toothpicks.

All in all, this trailer did the job of making me interested in the film it was advertising. I had never heard of this film prior to seeing this trailer, but it’s definitely on my “to see” list now. At this time, there’s no word on whether or not Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants will get any sort of release here in the States, but I certainly hope it will.

ANTICIPATION: Please release it over here, please release it over here!

Release Date: May 27, 2016 in UK theaters

Directors: Helene Giraud and Thomas Szabo
Writers: Helene Giraud and Thomas Szabo

Timothy Monforton

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