Frank and Attato

Frank & Attato is an American/British 3D stop-motion animated adventure comedy film produced by Aardman Animations in partnership with 21st Century Fox Animation. It is directed by Peter Lord. The film is distributed by 20th Century Fox Pictures and will release on March 27, 2020 in the United States, and on April 3 in the United Kingdom. This will be the fourth Aardman film in partnership with a computer-animation company; the previous three Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the second was Flushed Away and the third was ''The Pirates! Band of Misfits'', respectively. The film features the voices of Xavier Mosley, Hugh Grant, James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie and Isabella Acres.

The film is based on Mosley's original drawings and home made comics since 2011. However, Frank and Attato are the only characters made in that year, with the characters in the film made in 2016. It follows Frank and his best friend Attato that decide to go out on an adventure far from home.

Plot
In Corpus Christi, Texas, two ants called Frank and Attato, work on getting food for the ant colony to survive. As of being fed up with their job of getting food, they decide to the queen about switching jobs, but the queen refuses their desire. They go back to work. Later, Attato thought of an idea: taking food from a human's home. At night, they enter the house, by entering a half-open window to the kitchen. As they entered the kitchen, they see a bunch of bananas on the counter. They take one back to the colony. The next morning, the queen and the clan are elated of the banana they found at the house. However, when they tell them how they found it, the queen warns them not to go back there again for food. After not taking her warning, they repeatedly go there again. One day, a human catches the duo stealing food. After they escape and hide in the colony, a hired exterminator gases the colony. After the gas attack, the queen tells them to never come back.

After they are kicked out of the colony, they decide to go on an adventure to see the big world. After going through the giant grass, crawling from curb to curb and tired from the long crawl they took, they rest. The next day, they discover a balloon stand. They take one balloon and have it attached to a bottle cap and fly away. But, a gunshot pops the balloon, making them slide down a roof to an apartment. After the fall, a man who is a bug catcher traps them with a jar and takes them back to England.

After they have arrived in England, he takes them to his home and puts them in a glass fish tank (filled with real leafs, grass, flowers and rocks to make it look like a grassy land). The ant duo meets three other insects; a fly called Fletcher, a bee called Reginald and a butterfly, Ria. The duo have less interest on getting to know them, as they focus on trying to escape. However, many attempts backfire (even when the bug collector sees them try to escape).

They decide to give up, then a silverbird named Peep arrives in the now opened window. Frank and Attato think she must have followed them all the way to England. Fluent in bird, Frank tells her to get help from the clan to save them. As she leaves, they wait for her return. As they were elated they got help, the others refused. Confused why they want to stay, they tell them their backstories; Fletcher fled from a cat eating bits of its fish. He was then captured by the bug collector and has been in the tank for 12 years. Reginald was kicked out of the hive for eating their honey. And Ria was the rarest butterfly in America. The duo try to change their minds, but Reginald and Fletcher turn their back on them, and Ria tries to change Frank's mind about leaving. Later at night, Attato waits for Peep to come back and Frank decided to stay in the tank as he developed a relationship with Ria. Attato changes his mind that he does not belong in England or in the tank. Frank makes a decision to be with Ria or try to take her with them. Meanwhile, Peep flies all the way to Corpus for over fifteen minutes. With the ants, they celebrate for the duo's absence.

Back in England, Frank has another escape plan: They all get out from the lid of the tank, find a way out of the house and never get caught. As they do the plan, they first get out of the tank and then notice the bug collector leave the house. The door is the only way out. They successfully escape the house. Not noticing, the insects fly away (while carrying the duo). Not watching their backs, the bug collector sprays bug spray, making the insects fall to the ground. He puts them back in the tank.

Meanwhile, Peep arrived to Corpus and gives the ants the bad news about the duo. Wrong as she was, the ants all follow Peep on dragonflies. With the ants and the insects, they all feel depressed of the fail escape. Fletcher sulks, Attato and Reginald pat backs and Frank and Ria hold hands. The bug catcher decides to sell the insects for $30 online. Frank gets a new idea: they all hide, to make the bug catcher think they escaped again. The bug catcher goes out to find them. As he left, Peep and the ants come to the rescue. Unexpectedly, the bug catcher returned and discovers the ants on the dragonflies and Peep rescuing the others. All the insects and the bird get out of the house and out in the streets of London. He becomes outraged and comes up with a plan.

After the rescue, they all fly back to Texas. Frank tells the whole story about how they were taken to England. After he finishes the story, they arrive. The insects have never felt more surprised on how long they have been away from the insect world. Ria kisses Frank as a thank you for changing their minds. The insects celebrate for the return of the duo.

During the party, the insect trio thank the duo for giving them freedom. After the party, they part ways. Frank and Attato feel a little heartbroken after they left. The next day, they resume their job getting food and pass by many various things reminding them of Fletcher, Reginald and Ria. When they return back to the colony, a worm tells the duo the bug catcher has caught the insect trio. Shock as they were, the duo go to stop him.

Attempting to get to the city again, they use a slingshot and a red 57 Chevy diecast car. Several attempts fail. Instead, they use a leaf-like glider made by Frank. Later, they are on the roof of the house (where they stole food at). They glide off the roof and head to the city. There, the bug catcher has Fletcher, Reginald and Ria inside a glass jar. The ant duo see the bug catcher and Frank tosses Attato to the man's neck to bite at, making him drop the jar and freeing the insect trio. They escape, however, the bug catcher sprays bug spray before they make it to the sky. The flying insects are weakened by the spray they can barely fly. They run on all legs just like the ants, then Peep arrives, as well as other birds with the ant clan on their backs. The birds attack the bug catcher making him retreat and get on a rowboat back to England. The insects cheer for victory.

As they are back at the colony, Reginald and Ria decide to stay in Corpus Christi with Frank and Attato. But Fletcher decides to part ways with them, as he has a family to go home to. He promises he will visit sometime. He flies away and the others watch him leave.

In a few post-credits scenes, the bug catcher decides to end his career in catching insects and decides to be an author, Fletcher reunites with his family in a feast, and Frank and Attato ride the same diecast car down a hill and survive. They high-five at the end.

Voice cast

 * Xavier Mosley as Frank, Attato
 * Hugh Laurie as Gerald Welton / The Bug Catcher
 * Hugh Grant as Fletcher
 * James McAvoy as Reginald
 * Isabella Acres as Ria
 * Karen Gillan as The Ant Queen
 * Ben Batt as a bread beetle
 * Rhys Ifans as a worm

Soundtrack
The film's score was originally going to be composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. Instead, Theodore Shapiro composes the score. It also includes a number of previously released songs by various artists, including "My Life" by Billy Joel (at the beginning of the film) and "London Calling" by The Clash (played at where the ant duo are taken to London, England).
 * 1) Life as Two Ants
 * 2) Food from the Humans
 * 3) The Big City
 * 4) Your New Home
 * 5) Failed Escapes
 * 6) Peep
 * 7) Backstories
 * 8) Successful... Failed Escape
 * 9) Bad News, Ants!
 * 10) The Rescue
 * 11) Party at the Colony
 * 12) Depressed
 * 13) Off to the City, Again
 * 14) Saving Them
 * 15) End Credits

Home media
The Pirates! was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD on 4 August 2020 in the United States, and on 7 September 2020 in the United Kingdom. The special features on all four formats include a 15-minute stop motion animated film short titled The Bugs and the Bees, where Frank and Attato, alongside their friends, explain their species and about what they do.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives an 86% from 102 reviews from critics and an average rating of 7 out of 10. The site's consensus says, "It may not be Aardman's glorious release, but Frank and Attato won't bug that much after you see it." Metacritic has the film with a of 69 based on 35 reviews.