Antz Review
by Brian Koller (briankoller AT my-dejanews DOT com)October 4th, 1998
Antz (1998)
Grade: 69
"Antz" provides proof that Hollywood takes animated
films seriously. DreamWorks sunk 65 million dollars
into this project, much of which must have gone to
the impressive cast providing the voices: Woody Allen,
Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone,
Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone, Danny Glover,
Anne Bancroft, and Saturday Night Live alumni Dan Aykroyd
and Jane Curtin.
The results are pretty good. While "Antz" is not the
great film that "Toy Story" was, it is thoroughly
enjoyable. The animation is satisfying, the characters
are interesting, there are many funny moments, and
even some suspense.
The story begins with worker ant Z-4195 (Allen)
questioning his role in the ant universe. Seemingly
fated to a life of mundane toil, his only friends
are hulking soldier ant Weaver (Stallone) and
lady co-worker Azteca (Lopez). Z falls for Princess
Bala (Stone), who is the daughter of the queen (Bancroft).
In an attempt to meet Bala, Z cons Weaver into trading places. The ants declare war on a neighbor termite
colony, and Z is forced into battle. At least he
makes a new friend in Barbatus (Glover). The war
with the termites is part of an evil plan by general
Mandible (Hackman) to wipe out the colony. Mandible's
right hand man (or is it, right legged ant?) is brooding Cutter (Walken).
The best supporting characters are a snobbish wasp
couple (Aykroyd and Curtin). They provide a great
comic relief, but unfortunately do not see much
screen time. The characters of Z and Weaver are
very familiar to students of Allen and Stallone,
and when the action slows, it is fun to look for
the actors' personalities in their dialogue.
The animation, although very good, is not quite up to
the level of "Toy Story". The backgrounds become
redundant in color and texture, but the foreground
action is well done.
The great weakness to the story is Mandible's genocidal plans. If he wants to abduct Bala and begin a new
colony, he can do it without destroying the existing
colony. One philosophic question that "Antz" doesn't address: does every cartoon needs a villian?
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