"You da ant!!"      

ANTZ (PG) 

Reviewed October 3, 1998 - Check out the Antz Website.

In what is the first fully computer-animated film from an insect's perspective this season (A Bug's Life is due out in December), the folks at Dreamworks and PDI bring us Antz, the story of a small, unhappy worker-ant named "Z" (Woody Allen) who seeks more out of his lot in life.  After a chance meeting with Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) one day at the local bar, Z decides to switch places with his soldier-ant friend Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) in order to get closer to the Princess.  Unfortunately, Z doesn't realize that General Mandible (Gene Hackman) has declared war against a neighboring termite colony, and before he knows it, tiny Z is off to war.

So begins the creative, colorful, and visually spectacular film that is Antz.  In a world where blades of grass are as tall as skyscrapers and a drop of water could drown you, Z, Princess Bala, and the other creations out of Dreamworks take us down to an extreme ground-level perspective, and the view's great.  Those inclined to compare this picture to 1995's Toy Story will find that CGI technology continues to improve, with Antz presenting more than its share of jaw-dropping animation effects (don't miss the ant wrecking ball sequence).  In addition, the characters here are also entertaining in their own right, with the likes of Allen, Stallone and Hackman giving their insects an all-too-human and often very mature feel.  Make no mistake, Antz is as much a film made for adults as it is for children, with Z and company raising all sorts of psycho-socio-political issues about individuality and free will versus societal norms.  In fact, if you're a fan of Woody Allen's rambling monologues, you may just want to see Antz for this reason alone...believe me, you'll get lots of it.

Unfortunately, all the socio-political inferences also slightly over-complicates what could (or perhaps should) have been a much simpler and more direct story.  For instance, Z and Princess Bala's quest to find the mythical "Insectopia" is a compelling story on its own, but one that isn't fully explored as the film jumps back and forth between subplots.  Still, it's hard to be nitpicky about a film who's main character is an ant.  I expect that people will generally go and see Antz for its animation rather than for any of its other qualities, and rightly so.  If this is a sign of where computer animation is taking us, I'm really looking forward to more films such as Antz in years to come.

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Barry gives this movie  stars: "More action then A Bug's Life, but I couldn't say which was better" (12/12/00)

rfksecond2@cs.com gives this movie  stars: "Great! Violence, crude language, big time acters for voices. Not as good a movie as Bug's Life, but I still like Antz more." (6/17/00)

jackskellington@wkbwmail.com gives this movie  stars: "I think this movie was an excellent! It really was more exciting every time I saw it!" (12/28/99)

Sean Teague gives this movie  stars: "This was an entertaing movie, but it could use some polishing. The ants looked like aliens, and Z was a character you quickly got tired of. In "A Bug's Life," you learned to love and enjoy Flik. Z was annoying, with no admirable qualities. The animation was incredible. When I saw the previews, I thought it was claymation (James and the Giant Peach), but whenI learned it was computer, it made sense. This was a good first draft of a movie." (3/12/99)

jackie-burns@dsd.vic.gov.au gives this movie  stars: "I enjoyed the movie and liked the positive messages that the film uses" (11/11/98)

Vicky gives this movie  stars: "I think Antz wuz a cute movie. It shouldv'e been PG-13 cause the cursing & other comments. It was phat how it wuz 3-D." (11/11/98)

tjyoungb@uncc.edu gives this movie  stars. (11/3/98)

kraut@sympatico.ca gives this movie  stars: "The movie is the best computer animated movie out there to this date. If you want to see imazing graphics, go see it. If you like the actors in it, go see it, they go a great job. The story is passable, and funny at times. It is also a good movie for first dates." (10/21/98)

nickblaskowski@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "This movie was pretty funny!The computer animation was wonderful,I like how you can see all the ants working in the hole,it is beautiful.This movie also had an all-star cast of Woody Allen,Sylverster Stallone,Dan Akroyd,Jennifer Lopez,Sharon Stone,Danny Glover,who wasn't in this movie?" (10/17/98)

j-t-jenkins@msn.com gives this movie  stars: "This film, except for the computer generation and big star voices, is a loser. The story line is trite and not well developed and the references to "freedom" vs. "totalitarian" social structure is poorly worked throughout the film. Not worth seeing, or worse yet, paying to see." (10/11/98)