Paul Rugg Movies
A kid who hates ants finds himself living among the six-legged critters in this computer-animated comedy-adventure. Lucas Nickle (voice of Zach Tyler Eisen) is a ten-year-old boy whose family has just moved to a new town, and Lucas isn't enjoying it much -- he hasn't made any friends yet, his big sister ignores him, his parents (voices of Larry Miller and Cheri Oteri) are occupied with their upcoming vacation in Mexico, and his loving but slightly crazy grandmother (voice of Lily Tomlin) is convinced space aliens are casing out the neighborhood. To make matters worse, the local bully has found Lucas and is making his life miserable, so the boy looks for someone he can push around -- and he soon finds a large colony of ants in his yard. Lucas takes out his frustrations by stomping, drowning, and burying the bugs, little realizing the ants see him as a threat to their safety and aren't about take his attacks lying down. Zoc (voice of Nicolas Cage) is a "wizard ant" who creates a formula that shrinks Lucas to the size of an insect, and the tiny boy is brought before the leader of the Ant Council (voice of Ricardo Montalban) and the Queen of the Colony (voice of Meryl Streep) to answer for his crimes against the ants. Showing compassion, the queen sentences Lucas not to death, but to live among them and see how difficult their circumstances can be. Nurse Ant Hova (voice of Julia Roberts) is put in charge of looking after Lucas, and with the help of Scout Fugax (voice of Bruce Campbell) and Forager Kreela (voice of Regina King), Lucas gets an eye-opening picture of how the other half lives -- just in time for Lucas to help the ants in an all-out battle against Stan (voice of Paul Giamatti), a pest-control man brought in to get rid of the bugs. Produced by Tom Hanks, The Ant Bully was written and directed by John A. Davis, who handled the same chores on the film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, (more)
- 2004
This Disney Channel animated series was set in the mythical land of Udragoth. Title character Dave was the oldest son of a mother-father team of barbarian warriors, who spent most of their time away from home on an odyssey of conquest and domination (all the while sending their kids "Wish you were here" cards and souvenirs from each of the foreign lands they had vanquished). Naturally, Dave was expected to uphold family tradition and become a warrior himself, but he would much sooner have stayed at home with his sister Candy and little brother Fang and spend his time making elaborate gourmet meals. While mom and dad were away, Dave and his siblings were cared for by Uncle Oswidge, a bumbling sorcerer who did his best to protect the household from various and sundry invaders, both human and supernatural. Also sharing space with Dave, Oswidge, and the kids were the sarcastic talking sword Lula, the lazy pet dragon Faffy, and Twinkle the Marvel Horse, who moved, sounded, and acted like Christopher Walken! Created by Douglas Lansdale (Earthworm Jim, The Weekenders), Dave the Barbarian was delightfully reminiscent of the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, replete with over-the-kid's-head jokes, deliberately sloppy animation, and the frequently snide and intrusive interpolations from the series' narrator (aka "The Storyteller"). Offering two stories per half-hour episode, Dave the Barbarian premiered January 23, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Cooksey, Jeff Bennett, (more)
- 2001
Christmas is approaching. Stewie (voice of Seth MacFarlane) isn't particularly looking forward to playing the baby Jesus in Quahog's annual passion play. Peter (MacFarlane) only seems interested in watching the annual airing of "Kiss Saves Santa." Lois (voice of Alex Borstein) drags him to visit Joe (voice of Patrick Warburton) and Bonnie (voice of Jennifer Tilly), where they find Joe in an unpleasant mood. Stewie learns of Santa and his "constant surveillance of every child on Earth." Peter accidentally gives all of the family's presents to charity. Lois takes the news surprisingly well, and the Griffins head to the mall to buy new presents, leaving Brian (MacFarlane) behind to look after their Christmas Eve turkey. At the mall, the family fights with other last-minute shoppers, and Stewie is shocked to have a chance to sit on the lap of his new nemesis. "Santa, you make it too easy," he taunts. But when he learns that Santa will give him whatever he wants (in Stewie's case, plutonium) in exchange for being "good," he changes his tune. Meanwhile, back at the house, Brian runs into some trouble, thanks in no small part to Peter's purchase of a novelty fire extinguisher. Her Christmas dinner ruined, Lois' calm veneer cracks and she goes on a rampage through town. This episode features the voices of Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss of Kiss. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Unlike the first season of the animated superhero spoof Freakazoid!, in which most of the episodes contained three to four separate segments, eleven of the twelve Season Two episodes are comprised of a single, self-contained narrative--thereby providing even more time for computer-generated superhero Freakzoid!, aka nerdy Dexter Douglas, to make a fool of himself before an audience of millions. In the season opener, "Dexer's Date" is interrupted by The Lobe's plan to destroy the entire TV industry (the fiend!). "The Freakazoid" illustrates the fact that a superhero's birthday party is hardly cause for celebration (turns out that HE is expected to dole out the favors). In "Mission: Freakazoid", our hero must rescue his family from the oppressive country of Vuka Nova. "Virtual Freak" finds all the characters we care about being sucked into a VR world, while The Lobe raises Holy Ned at the local mall. "Hero Boy" pits Freakazoid! against traditional enemy Guieterrez, who's now developed a cloning process. In "A Matter of Love", a "dream" girl turns out to be a nightmare--namely, an ancient monstrous succubus. "Statuesque" reaches a peak of terror as Dexter's girlfriend Steph gets stoned--literally. Then, it's Freakazoid vs. the Orangumen in "Island of Dr. Mystico", followed by Cave Guy and Cobra Queen teaming up for trouble in "Two Against Freak". And in "Normadeus", The Lobe reverses Freakazoid!'s resonance frequency, which may cause our hero to go to pieces. That leaves one final two-adventure episode, consisting of "Freak-a-Panel" , in which Freakazoid discovers that tracking down Cave Guy may be less of a challenge than "escaping the mediocrity" of a sci-fi convention; and "Tomb of Invisibo", a double takeoff of "The Mummy" and "The Invisble Man", all in one, and even together, also too, hey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rugg, David Kaufman, (more)
The only thing that anyone could be certain of in Season One of the animated superhero spoof Freakazoid! is that no one can be certain of anything. Most of the season's 12 episodes contained three to four short segments, interrelated only by the fact that the star of each one is Freakazoid!, a super-powered but somewhat doltish good guy whose alter ego is teenage computer geek Dexter Douglas. Also appearing are Dexter's sort-of girlfriend Steph, the neurotic police sergeant Cosgrove, and seedy master villain The Lobe. This season's consignment of craziness includes a bloodless spoof of the "Friday the 13th" movies, filmed in SCREAM-O-VISION; an escapade with Lord Bravery, a shameless takeoff of Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest; the ongoing plight of the Huntsman, an unemployed superhero who goes into hissy-fits because there aren't any criminals in his city; and a Woody Allen-esque luncheon in which a group of old, out-of-shape superheroes kvetch about how life has passed them by. Also, a group of lawn gnomes try to improve their malevelont image; Freakazoid! is saddled with a self-appointed sidekick, the obnoxious Fan Boy; our hero tries to tame a mad dog, dubbing his new pal "Foamy"; Christmas is threatened by the misbehavior of crime czar "Arms" Akimbo; "The Nerdator" kidnaps all the nerds in the world, thereby diminishing Freakazoid!'s fan base; the Cobra Queen grosses everybody out, dude, when she sets up headquarters in a sewer; and Leonard Nimoy is pestered by autograph seekers (Wait: Are you sure this is really a cartoon?) The only episode containing a single segment is "The Chip" which explains the computer meltdown that transformed Dexter Douglas into Freakazoid!, narrated by Motion Picture Association of America executive Jack Valenti (we swear we're not making this up). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rugg, David Kaufman, (more)
