directors
Eric Darnell
Tim Johnson
screenwriters
Todd Alcott
Chris Weitz
Paul Weitz
story by
Chris Miller
producers
Brad Lewis
Aron Warner
Patty Wooton
music
Harry Gregson-Williams
John Powell
editor
Stan Webb
cast (voices)
Woody Allen (Z-4195)
Dan Aykroyd (Chip)
Anne Bancroft (Queen)
Jane Curtin (Muffy)
Danny Glover (Barbatus)
Gene Hackman (General Mandible)
Jennifer Lopez (Azteca)
John Mahoney (Grebs)
Paul Mazursky (Psychologist)
Grant Shaud (Foreman)
Sylvester Stallone (Weaver)
Sharon Stone (Princess Bala)
Christopher Walken (Colonel Cutter)
mpaa rating: PG
running
time: 87m
u.s.
release: 10/2/98
video
availability: VHS -
DVD
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Antz isn't anything great, or even especially memorable,
but it's a reasonable afternoon diversion -- which is its chief
charm. The fledgling studio DreamWorks has dabbled in kiddie
fare before (MouseHunt, Small
Soldiers), but this is its first feature-length foray
into animation. Not only that, it's the first fully computer-animated
'toon since Disney/Pixar's Toy Story. All things considered,
I prefer Antz. It has no sappy show tunes (the closest
it comes is a montage set to "I Can See Clearly Now"),
a minimum of gush, and a surplus of anti-establishment wit. And
it doesn't overwhelm you or try too hard; it's as light and brisk
as a spring breeze.
Disney is big on "Be yourself" as a theme, but Antz
advances a more relevant message: "Think for yourself."
The movie unfolds within a teeming ant colony, divided into soldiers
and workers -- it's a vision of a society as a military-industrial
complex that would keep Oliver Stone ranting for years. We meet
one worker ant, Z (voice by Woody Allen), who's tired of his
predetermined role in life. He's sure there has to be something
more, and he hears intriguing things about a far-off idyll called
Insectopia. He finds his soulmate in the Queen Ant's daughter
Princess Bala (Sharon Stone), who's sick of her life --
she's to be married to the brutish General Mandible (Gene Hackman),
a warmonger with vaguely genocidal plans.
To adults, there's nothing terribly original in the plot (which
follows Z and Bala to Insectopia and their struggle against Mandible),
though it's fair to say that it's new to newcomers -- i.e., kids.
Will children be mystified by the often-sophisticated dialogue
(by Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz)? Possibly, but there's
more than enough else to hold their interest, including a couple
of set pieces (one involving a pair of giant sneakered feet,
another concerning a drop of water) that define "ingenuity."
At its best, Antz appeals to your daydreams when you were
a kid and you wondered about the daily physical hassles of an
ant. (Well, I did, anyway.)
Antz takes place in an enclosed computer-generated world,
like Toy Story, yet I didn't feel cramped and confined
in this ant world, as I did in the hermetic, almost-real-but-not-quite
universe of Buzz and Woody. Antz is actually closer to
James and the Giant Peach, and
the visuals, ironically enough, feel large-scale. When we pull
back, what seems like miles of ant tunnels is really only inches
in diameter. I would've liked to see a little more interaction
between ants and humans -- maybe a scene with millions of frenzied
soldiers waging war on a candy bar on the sidewalk, or a decree
from General Mandible that all deserters will be sent to the
ant farm.
Adults will get a kick out of the voices, too. Woody successfully
reinvents himself in the sort of uncomplicated revenge-of-the-nerd
role he hasn't enjoyed in a while; Sharon Stone displays the
humor you always find in her interviews but rarely in her movies;
Jennifer Lopez's fans will find further proof that she sounds
as alluring as she looks; Sylvester Stallone and (briefly) Danny
Glover are amusing as soldier ants; Gene Hackman reworks several
of his rabid military bad-guys.
Then there's Christopher Walken,
whose character -- Mandible's second-in-command Cutter -- even
looks like him. This is Walken's second go-round in a DreamWorks
kiddie movie (he also brightened MouseHunt), and he's
even funnier in these movies than he is in his usual black-clad,
vampire-from-the-planet-of-bad-hair roles. Everywhere else, he's
typecast, hired for his voice and somber visage; DreamWorks may
have found the perfect home for this often-imitated, never-duplicated
actor, who clearly has a ball playing wacky roles no one else
will let him do. And so far, the studio is batting three for
three with their kiddie division, hiring hipster actors like
Walken and Tommy Lee Jones and letting them play. Whereas Toy
Story employed who? Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. I rest my case.
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