Year:
1998
Studio:
DreamWorks SKG/Pacific Data Images
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
4/5
Teaser
On being asked by his friend Z (Woody Allen) what's so great about
being an ant -- toiling for the uber-collective group gestalt of the
colony day after day of the rather depressingly mind-numbing sameness
that is their existence -- Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) expressed the
simple thought: "We ants rule the world!"
And yet, that's not enough for one worker ant. Z is an individual who
wants to break out of the mold and do something else, anything else he
thinks. But what would that be? And then she walks into his life. A
vision of six-legged beauty in the form of a new girl at Chug, the
local ant bar. They talk, they dance, they start a barroom
free-for-all, and Z finds out that his new love is actually Princess
Bala (Sharon Stone) slumming with the lower casts.
Z has to see Bala again. But how? And then he finds out about the grand
military review being held on the morrow. The royal family will be
there and he's sure that if he can somehow get to Bala everything will
fall into place. So he takes his warrior friend Weaver's place in the
review. Too bad that General Mandible (Gene Hackman) has plans for
these troops. They're loyal to the Queen (Anne Bancroft) and they have
to be removed before he can put his secret plan into motion.
And so the troops are immediately sent on a suicidal mission against
the nearby Termite colony. A hopeless fight that the ants gamely press
on because that's what ants do. Miraculously Z is the only survivor. An
instant war hero. With his new found fame it should be easy to see
Princess Bala and win her heart. But Z's troubles are just beginning...
Movie
I remember that there had been a furious race between "Antz" and "A
Bug's Life" to see which one would be released first. Somewhere along
the line "Antz" had the backing of Microsoft whereas "A Bug's Life" was
done by Pixar, whose
CEO Steve Jobs was still strongly associated with Apple
Computer (I'm not sure if he was back at Apple by then or not).
Although not as technically breathtaking as "A Bug's Life", "Antz"
still has an engaging story.
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"Antz" is a
love/adventure story. Z not only has to win Princess Bala's
heart but he has to stop General Mandible from destroying the colony.
The plot moves along and I didn't think the expositions dragged down
the movie (like the Directors thought). In fact the movie is a bit too
focused. I really wanted a bit more time with Weaver and Azteca
(Jennifer Lopez) who had a bit of a budding romance of their own.
I especially like the end where you get an overhead shot of the whole
area that is the ant's world. All these things that you saw from the
ants' point of view are these everyday objects to us.
Actors
The voice acting was pretty good. Woody Allen has a distinctive sound
and speech manners. Z was totally Woody Allen. Sylvester Stallone and
Christopher Walken (who played Colonel Cutter) are also unmistakable.
But other than that it's hard to really have an impact with just your
voice. Yes, better actors give a better performance but the gap is much
smaller if you're not there acting live.
DVD
The movie is in wide-screen format only. The commentary track is
adequate -- not particularly bad nor good. The commentary is done by
Directors Tim Johnson and Eric Darnell. There's also a four or five
minute little featurette which shows the actors, a couple of longer
animation featurettes, and the television and theatre trailers. It's
all well done, and the animation segments are better done than on
"Monsters Inc", but really it's not that exciting unless you're
interested in it. In the end all the extra material ups the DVD rating
to four.
Recommendations
This is a good movie to watch. Fun for the kids and fun for the adults.
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