Antz

I watched this for the first time with my sister as part of our Dreamworks Movie Marathon. Though not even remotely comparable to Pixar's A Bug's Life in terms of quality, Antz is an enjoyable overall experience. The main character was a bit annoying, but at least he was different than I expected. His romantic counterpart was very intolerable, and this resulted in an extremely forced romance between two characters who had no reason to fall in love.

That all being said, the movie had teeth, and it was unafraid to kill off characters left and right. The main theme of non-conformity really beat you over the head throughout the film, and could have been a bit more subtle. This basic plot leads me to believe this film is directed at kids, but the innuendo and adult-jokes make me think otherwise. Not sure if it's a good kids movie since I'm not a kid anymore, but Antz is a pretty good film with some problems here and there.

I'll be reviewing every Dreamworks film after my sister and I watch it, so Antz is a good start.

It's probably the first time Woody Allen is so much like himself when he isn't at all. Ant Z, a neurotic, fatalistic, depressive, sorry ant with a record low level of self-esteem transforms into a (part-time) content, revolutionary hero of his utterly totalitarian and fascistic colony ever imaginable. Apart from the incredibly precise animation and "logical" fantasy, one feels a bit distracted with the subliminal messages the picture tries to impose. While it would be easy to reduce the moral to the frequently recited motto: "think for yourself once!", there are too many of them to ignore. This definitely is not a kid's flick, it is meant for and appreciated by adults, with many philosophical, psychological and social references and conflicts. One big "bravo!" to Dreamworks. I think they have achieved the point where adults can actually enjoy animation movies while believing the whole stuff. These insects are surely going to bite some Disney bugs.

Antz is an animated movie that wasn't appreciated upon its initial release. After the family friendly movie Toy Story, I feel like people weren't ready for something a little bit darker, and more intense. This movie has death (and a lot of it at that), it has violence, it has gore, it has humor, it has swearing, and it has alcohol in it... pretty epic huh (granted, just being edgy doesn't necessarily equal good). The movie Antz which actually came out before A Bug's Life by about a month takes the role of what ants do a lot more seriously and better captures an ant like atmosphere. The movie A Bug's Life really doesn't seem to understand what ants do or how their colonies work, but the movie Antz does it all. There are the miners, the warriors, the drones (the ones with wings) the queen and others. The voice acting itself is also pretty good and Woody Allen fits the role of Z perfectly. The animation was also pretty advanced for its time, because it did many things that were hard for that time: Water, large amounts of moving objects, realistic face movement, realistic body movement, lighting, and many others.

The nice thing about this movie is that it doesn't pretend to be a kids movie. Ants swear in it (the word b****in is used once) and as mentioned there is a lot of violence. Like a very intense scene where the ants are trying to fight a termite colony and the ants are getting attacked by acid, are getting decapitated, and dying in other various barbaric ways. The thing is that this movie doesn't cover up death. When someone dies, the movie won't hide it.

The other cool thing in Antz is that the rest of the insects in the movie are as hideous and monstrous as they should be. Praying Mantis? It is infinitely larger than an Ant. Wasps? Like giants. It gives this overwhelming sense that Z is not only small in the ant world but also small in the insect world as well. There is nothing that can't kill him (even the princess could if she wanted).

Honestly this movie was really good, it has a good story, it has good characters, it is realistic, and has nice action. One of Dreamkworks' best.

I'm probably a weird guy, but I really appreciate a good animated movie even though I'm no longer a kid (I'm 26 years old). What I liked about this one is the great animation, the nice story, the humor...

I haven't seen A Bug's Life yet, which makes it impossible for me to compare both of course, but I really liked the style used in Antz. Usually a Disney production gives me the feeling I'm watching a movie which was intended for kids only (although A Bug's Life was created by the Pixar studio's, which gives me a bit of hope), while Dreamworks understood that adults too can appreciate this kind of movies, if only they take care of the style and the story. Most of Disney's animated movies are just too smooth, too perfect for me, and to be honest the songs almost make me sick.

The style in Antz is much grittier. It isn't as perfect and smooth as a Disney production and the message is a lot stronger. The film is probably exciting for little children, thanks to the humor, fantastic images and action, but the underlying subtext and social commentary on humans make this movie different from Disney's moralizing films. However, the different message isn't the only difference between Disney and Dreamworks. I don't think Disney ever risked to use very well known scenes from other movies in their own films. In Antz you can find some excellent scenes which refer to movies like Metropolis, Starship Troopers,...

Some people have some critics on this movie because it doesn't show how a real anthill is organized, how strong ants really are, that ants don't look for a partner, ... Let me tell this to these people: I respect you're way of thinking but I think you should have watched a documentary instead of an animated movie. I sure hope you understand there is still a big difference between a documentary, based on scientific research, meant to teach people and a movie like Antz, who's only purpose is to entertain people. Personally I liked the movie for what it was and I give it an 8/10.

From what I have read, DreamWorks got the idea of an insect animation film from Disney, rushed to market before the Disney version was released, and that they think this will enable them to compete against Disney in the animated film market? I think some reevaluation is in order.

ANTZ is not bad, far from it. The animation is very well done (to this untrained, unschooled eye) and the voices well-acted (and maybe Woody wasn't so much acting as being Woody). The feel-good plot was well......very Disney. Certainly worth the price of a rental. And I mean this for adults. I can't comment of the movie being too dark and violent for small children, well maybe very small children.

Nothing earth-shaking or leading edge, but good ol' entertainment.