Line #34 WesternAnimation/MinusculeValleyOfTheLostAnts


1	[[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miniscule.jpg]]
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3	''Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants'' (or, in the original French, ''Minuscule - La vallée des fourmis perdues'') is the BigDamnMovie treatment for the ''WesternAnimation/{{Minuscule}}'' television series.
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5	It tells the epic story of a small, lonely ladybug separated from her family by accident not long after hatching, trying to find her way in the harsh, scary world... Except the world is rather nice and [[SceneryPorn pretty as anything]]. And full of interesting stuff humans left ([[HumansAreCthulhu we are the good sort of]] NeglectfulPrecursors, apparently). Like toys. Or sugar... Finding herself befriending a group of cute black ants who have procured a box of sugar on the site of an interrupted picnic, she ends up on an oddyssey of adventure on the way back to the anthill, including an encounter with their regular foes, the red ants. And the red ants ''really'' want this sugar for themselves. Cue a dramatic AntWar.
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7	The theatrical budget allows the live-action/computer-animation world to become an utterly gorgeous movie, the complete lack of spoken dialogue continuing and making the film an example of a modern SilentFilm.
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9	A sequel came out in 2019, titled ''Minuscule 2 : Les Mandibules du Bout du Monde'' (localized in English as ''Minuscule: Mandibles from Far Away'').
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12	!!''Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants'' provides examples of:
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14	* AmicableAnts: Zigzagged. The black ants are the first ones to treat the ladybug with kindness after she gets lost from her family. On the other turn, the red ants are bad guys who want to kill them to get the sugar.
15	* AnnoyingLaugh: The small fly that taunts the ladybug has that.
16	* AntAssault: The red ants are the main antagonists of the movie, organizing TheSiege on the black ant colony to steal their sugar cubes.
17	* AntWar: TheSiege, to be exact, with both sides using human "weapons" like [[DeadlyGas bug spray]] and [[WeaponOfMassDestruction fireworks]]. And slingshots.
18	* BadassAdorable: The ladybug shall stop at nothing to help her ant friends.
19	* CarnivoreConfusion: Most ladybugs in RealLife feed mostly on aphids. They sometimes eat berries, but definitely [[SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying not by sucking them out]].
20	* ChekhovsGun: The matches.
21	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Nice black ants (also notably cuter, with larger, rounder eyes) versus bad red ants.
22	* {{Dedication}}: To Jean Giraux a.k.a. Creator/{{Moebius}}.
23	* TheDeterminator: The red ants' squadron leader.
24	* TheDogBitesBack: The ladybug gets revenge on the flies that caused her to lose her family and her wing by taunting them to follow her to the road and be hit by the same yellow car that scared her and the black ants during the trip to the colony.
25	* TheFaceless: Averted for humans in this film, we get a good look at the couple at the start whose leftover picnic serves as the spark of the plot.
26	* FliesEqualsEvil: A [[EvilIsPetty petty, bullying sort of it]].
27	* TheFourLoves: Seems the main motivation for the [[IJustWantToHaveFriends friendly]] ladybug.
28	* GoodAnimalsEvilAnimals: Most are nice, but beware the red ants.
29	* GrayRainOfDepression: It rains heavily as the young ladybug finds herself all alone, without a wing and scared of everything around her.
30	* HauntedHouse: The spider's doll house really comes up like one, at first.
31	* InsectQueen: Black ants have a motherly queen surrounded by green… critters (aphids?). The red queen has GodSaveUsFromTheQueen vibes around her.
32	* LuredIntoATrap: The small fly that laughed at the ladybug when she was learning to fly taunts her again later. The ladybug, not knowing better, follows him angrily to a tree stump... to be surrounded by the fly's brother, who are for times bigger than her. Judging by the fact that the flies were bullying a male ladybug later, they enjoy harassing other insects... or just ladybugs.
33	* MacGuffin: Box of sugar cubes, apparently [[ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin irresistible to ants]].
34	* MaternityCrisis: The picnicing human couple at the start end up hastily leaving their food behind when the pregnant woman starts going into labor.
35	* MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon: Cartoon mixed with [[SceneryPorn live movie]], but even the human couple in the opening scene communicates purely in gesture. The insects [[SpeakingSimlish buzz]].
36	* MouseWorld: The events of the movie are seen from a tiny insect's point of view. For instance, the spider's doll house is treated as a full-sized HauntedHouse.
37	* TheMovie: The series is done in the same [[MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon no dialogue]], animation blended with live material, SceneryPorn way.
38	* RescueRomance: The ladybug falls for a male ladybug (and he for her) she saved from the same flies that pursued her in the beginning of the film.
39	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The cutest insects ever!
40	* RunningTheBlockade: The blockade is insurmountable to ants, but ladybugs can fly, luckily.
41	* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCommunication: All the insects communicate in buzzing, understandable to them, but not to us.
42	* SpidersAreScary: SubvertedTrope -- the spider's a cute, [[MadScientist curious]] and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider helpful soul]]. Although he does live in a ''Scooby-Doo'' house.
43	* StockAnimalDiet: Ants raid the sugar, but the ladybird [[SubvertedTrope seems to prefer berries]].
44	* StrongAnts: They have no trouble carrying an entire (tin) box of sugar, about the size of a lunchbox.
45	* WarForFunAndProfit: The red ants really want this sugar. Apart from being generally not-nice.
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47	!!''Minuscule: Mandibles from Far Away'' provides examples of:
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49	* BoringReturnJourney: No storms, no sharks, over in seconds, really.
50	* ChekhovsGun:
51	** The spider uses his [=IPod=] and some loud hiphop to annoy the shark into stomach ache and letting them out.
52	** The DeadlyGas capability of caterpillars is instrumental in driving humans away.
53	* ClassicalMusic: The spider is a fan -- he listens on an [=IPod=] and insists on having appropriately dramatic music during the storm.
54	* CreepyCockroach: Subverted, the cockroach is nothing but friendly and helps the dad ladybug navigate the airport.
55	* DeadlyGas: The Caribbean caterpillars release a cloud of it when crushed or when they want to -- it gives humans a horrible green rash. European ladybugs can release it, too, when scared.
56	* EveryoneKnowsMorse: The black ants around the world use it to communicate between continents by signalling with their antennae.
57	* AFriendInNeed: The spider and the ant cross the Atlantic to help the ladybugs.
58	* HumansAreBastards: Human construction activity becomes a significant danger to the insect characters this time around.
59	* HumanMail: This is how the main ladybug character ends up in Central America in the first place.
60	* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Once again, sugar cubes for the ants. Their attempt of stealing some from a shop in the beginning is how the young ladybug ends up in a box, shipped to Guadeloupe. And some red ants end up in Beijing the same way.
61	* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: The young ladybug decides to stay on the island with his beloved.]]
62	* InterspeciesRomance: Between the young ladybug and one of the native Caribbean ladybugs (which are black with red spots, just so we know they're foreign).
63	* PapaWolf: The dad ladybug will outsmart flies and cross the Atlantic to help his kid out of trouble.
64	* SlayingMantis: They almost act like ''Film/JurassicPark'' raptors. With HypnoticEyes.
65	* TheSkyIsAnOcean: The spider and the ant use a toy ship with [[AllBalloonsHaveHelium balloons]] to fly over the Atlantic, or at least they intend to. [[spoiler:It works brilliantly for a BigDamnHeroes GunshipRescue moment.]]
66	* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: The Caribbean ladybugs eat coconuts. Probably for RuleOfFunny reasons. Also, insects flying around amid European winter is not very probable.
67	* SpidersAreScary: Apart from our old friendly spider, there's the [[CuteIsEvil terrifyingly adorable]] Caribbean one -- fluffy, big-eyed and freakin' huge compared to the ladybugs.
68	* TheStinger: The red ants end up in Beijing.
69	* StrongAnts: Not just ants -- one ladybug lifts an apple, and a group easily carries coconuts around.
70	* SurveillanceStationSlacker: The security guard in the French grocery shop watches TV, feet on desk, and steals marshmallows.
71	* TheSwarm: Of menacing red ants.
72	* {{Telepathy}}: How the [[EthnicMagician elder caterpillar]] gets the [[ExpositionBeam summary of plot]] so far from the dad ladybug.
73	* TravelMontage: From France to the Caribbean, with DreadlockRasta driver to pick the box up and [[RegionalRiff reggae]] to drive it home. The spider and the ant follow the same route, until they get SwallowedWhole by a shark. Who swims in loops.
74	* ThreateningShark: Swallows the ship after it falls in the water.
75	* VacationEpisode: The film's action takes place in the Caribbean, set in Guadeloupe, complete with rasta caterpillars. Yup.
76	* WackySoundEffect: Though not necessarily wacky, the mantis's actions are given mechanical sounds, evoking the feeling of a fierce, dangerous robot hunter.

Context WesternAnimation / MinusculeValleyOfTheLostAnts