Antz

Plot synopsis:
In a Central Park ant colony, Z-4195, or "Z" for short, is a neurotic and pessimistic worker ant who longs to express himself. His friends include fellow worker Azteca and a soldier ant, Weaver. Princess Bala uses a bar to escape her suffocating royal life, and Z falls in love with her there. To see Bala again, Z exchanges places with Weaver and joins the army, where he befriends Barbatus, a staff sergeant. Z is unaware the army's leader and Bala's fiancé General Mandible is secretly sending the soldiers loyal to the Queen Ant to die so he can build a powerful ant colony.
At the base of a tree near nightfall, Z realizes he is marching into battle; everyone except Z is killed by acid-shooting termites. Before dying, Barbatus tells Z to think for himself instead of following orders. Z returns home and is hailed as a war hero (despite not doing anything; left traumatized by the fighting). Secretly irate, Mandible congratulates him and introduces him to the Queen Ant. There he meets Bala, who eventually recognizes him as a worker. Finding that he has been cornered, Z panics and pretends to take Bala hostage, causing him and Bala to fall out the anthill via garbage chute. After escaping from a magnifying glass, Z searches for Insectopia, a legendary insect paradise. After arguing, Bala attempts to return to the colony but quickly rejoins Z after encountering a praying mantis.
News of the incident spreads through the colony, and Z's act of individuality inspires the workers and some soldier ants, halting productivity. To gain control, Mandible publicly portrays Z as a self-centered war criminal. Mandible promotes the glory of conformity and promises them a better life through the reward of completing a "Mega Tunnel" planned by himself. However, Colonel Cutter, Mandible's second-in-command, becomes concerned about Mandible's plans.
After some misdirection, Z and Bala arrive at a picnic, where they meet two wasps, Chip and Muffy. The human owning the picnic swats Muffy, and Z and Bala end up on a dramatic ride on the human's shoes. Finally, Z and Bala find Insectopia, which consists of a human waste-bin overfilled with decaying food. Bala begins to reciprocate Z's feelings. After interrogating Weaver, Mandible learns that Z is looking for Insectopia and sends Cutter to retrieve Bala and kill Z. That night, Z gathers more stuff to burn at the fire while Cutter arrives in Insectopia and forcefully flies Bala back to the colony. Z finds them gone and returns to the colony, aided by Chip, now drunk while grieving over Muffy's death.
Z arrives back and finds Bala held captive in Mandible's office. After rescuing her, he learns Mandible's "Mega Tunnel" leads straight to the lake (a puddle next to Insectopia) which Mandible will use to drown the Queen Ant and workers at the opening ceremony. Bala warns the ants at the ceremony, while Z goes to the tunnel exit to stop the workers but fails, and the water leaks in. Z and Bala unify the workers into building a towering ladder of themselves towards the surface as the water rises.
Meanwhile, Mandible and his soldiers gather at the surface, where he explains his vision of a new colony with none of the "weak elements of the colony". When the workers break through, Mandible tries to kill Z, but Cutter rebels against Mandible and instead helps Z and the worker ants. Enraged, Mandible charges toward Cutter, but Z pushes Cutter out of the way and is tackled into the flooded colony with Mandible, who lands upon a root, killing him on impact; Z falls into the water. Cutter orders the soldiers to help the workers and the Queen Ant while he himself goes after Z. Although Z has seemingly drowned, Bala resuscitates him. Z is praised for his heroism and marries Bala. Together they rebuild the colony, transforming it from a conformist military state into a community that values all of its members.

Tags: violence, avant garde, satire, entertaining

Review:
His timing, throughout the entire film, is exquisite and the script takes advantage of this at every opportunity i.e.:Mandible: I like an ant that laughs in the face of death.Z: Actually I stand behind Death and make belittling comments at its back.It reads like one of Woody's early, funny films (sorry, but I couldn't resist it) and the rest of the cast are good too but that's because the script takes advantage of their history.
After the family friendly movie Toy Story, I feel like people weren't ready for something a little bit darker, and more intense.
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.
I think they have achieved the point where adults can actually enjoy animation movies while believing the whole stuff.
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).
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.
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.
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.
I thought is was a very intelligently entertaining movie:- a good combination of interesting ideas mixed with great visuals and broad comedy.All the the voice casting was top notch; especially Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, and of course Woody Allen.
Released 1 year after Disney/Pixar's 'A Bugs Life' and still during the early years of the computer generated genre, Dreamworks released their second all CGI cartoon 'ANTZ' and despite the glaring resemblances between the 2 movies; all it not as it appears.ANTZ still stands alone as the more adult movie in the genre, far more complexity in the character's emotions and a far more sinister plot evolution separate this from rest.
OK movies like 'Shrek', 'Finding Nemo' and 'Toy Story' have adult undertones beneath the humour, but ANTZ doesn't rely on such subtlety.PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM OF EITHER STYLE!
We follow the struggle of 'Z' (Woody Allen) as he tries to come to terms with his life as a worker, his neurosis, his love for Princess Bala and dream of something better.
Allen is excellently supported by an all star cast, including Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, etc, and we are treated to a visually impressive rendition of a heart warming story about life as an ANT.This movie can still be enjoyed as a family film, but much of it will be lost on younger kids.In Summary ANTZ is a fine film, but in truth it is difficult to compare with others in the genre, and for that; i salute it!
I thoroughly recommend this movie, and the only criticism I have is that there are some scenes that young children might find frightening, like the fight between the ants and the big green bugs.
I didn't realize the  plot was so similar to the typical Woody Allen movie - watching him deal with his neuroses.Hear that A Bug's Life is much better, looking forward to seeing it..
The animation is generally impressive but the characters' faces range from human-like (Weaver/Sly Stallone) to weird and alien-looking (Z/Woody Allen) with a limited range of emotion.
Not only is the language in _Antz_ a tad inappropriate (do you really want to explain "erotic fantasy" to your five-year-old?), the use of Woody Allen as the voice of the hero along with battle and flood imagery reminiscent of other DreamWorks films like _Saving Private Ryan_ and _Deep Impact_ only reinforces the sense that _Antz_ is aspiring to be something perverse:  a gritty, neurotic, philosophical disaster movie for the whole family.But the worst offense of all is that the film is boring.
And the film is visually dull as well -- all dark and dingy in the ant colony where most of the action takes place, but hardly more beautiful in the great outdoors._Antz_ may represent another leap forward in the art of computer animation, but I found the short trailer I saw for _A Bug's Life_ to contain much more life, color, whimsy and invention than the entirety of this disappointing affair..
Antz is '90s entertainment embodied in CGI: it's got an underdog character named Z (voiced by Woody Allen) reluctant about the world he's stuck in, and of course the underdog gets a girl, Sharon Stone's Princess Bala, has a celebrity-voiced best-friend in Sylvester Stallone's Weaver and of course there's the menacing all-rotten baddie General Mandible voiced by Gene Hackman.
Antz may be derivative of other movies but it worked in introducing audiences with CG-animation in cinema outside of PIXAR's Toy Story.
And Woody Allen is of course a joy to listen to in the movie.Antz is a movie's movie and it deserves a watch for its period-specific charm and for showing people how DreamWorks came to compete with PIXAR in the long-run.
After finally watching it, I can say that I enjoyed the whole 87 minutes of this film.Plot: Z, a worker ant decides to impersonate as a soldier ant just to impress the Princess Bala.Story and direction: The film released at a time when CGI animation was just starting.
But what he really wants is to find a fabled "Insectopia"; he must also expose the nefarious plan of a general named Mandible (voice of Gene Hackman).Written by Chris & Paul Weitz, with Todd Alcott, this is a funny and clever animated comedy from Dreamworks and PDI, the company that hit it big with the "Shrek" series.
Other celebrities voicing characters are Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin as a pair of wasps, Anne Bancroft as the Queen ant, Danny Glover as a soldier ant, Jennifer Lopez as a worker named Azteca, John Mahoney as an old barfly ant, Paul Mazursky as Z's psychologist, Christopher Walken as a loyal colonel, and Grant Shaud as a foreman.There's enough slick animation, visual effects, and action sequences to make it all pretty fun, along with good music by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell.
And yes, Antz is fundamentally a product of its time - if not for its hip, 90s misspelling, then for the reason that no one would ever let Woody Allen within a hundred miles of a kids film again.
Fittingly for a film sparring with Disney, Antz sneaks in subversive themes of individualism and Marxist anti-authoritarian revolt into a children's animation.
The deceptively detailed animation still holds up (check out how much Colonel Cutter's gaunt facial curvature looks like Christopher Walken), especially when playing with size perspective in the world above ground, turning a ride on the underside of a human's shoe into the most blood- curdling roller-coaster imaginable.Still, if the high percentage of Woody Allen jokes wasn't already enough to tip the scales in favour of a slightly older audience ("I have something against drinking from the anus of another creature"), the intense content is sure to set off all but the hardiest young viewers.
A flurry of stabbing and decapitation against the acid-spewing, behemoth enemies, it's a magnificent sci-fi battle for adults, but easily one of the most horrifying sequences ever to make its way into a kids movie.Antz also marks one of the first animated features to play off celebrity voice casting, which unquestionably works in its favour.
What do you get when you have an all-star cast (Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, etc.), an original concept by DreamWorks Animation and some of the funniest moments in film history?
Good Fun. Antz (1998) *** (out of 4) Z (Woody Allen) is an ant that questions just about everything but after a chance meeting with the Princess he decides to try and meet her again, which gets the two of them outside their colony where they learn that the General (Gene Hackman) has some bad plans.ANTZ isn't any sort of masterpiece but if you're a fan of Woody Allen then you'll certainly enjoy seeing his type of humor in a kids movie.
In fact, the movie is a tad bit more adult in nature, which took me by surprise and especially with some of the mild cussing that can be heard in it.For the most part this is a mildly amusing film that manages to get a great number of vocal talent.
I'll be reviewing every Dreamworks film after my sister and I watch it, so Antz is a good start..
Believe it or not, this animation has a great lesson to teach while maintaining it's comical merit.If you enjoyed Antz then I would recommend the following films: "A Bug's Life", "Madagascar" and "Monsters, Inc." 9/10.
And three, the explicit controversy that lead to this film's creation.For the "Cliff Notes" version of the story, Jeffrey Katzenberg, an executive at Disney, departed the day Pixar/Disney head John Lasseter pitched the idea for A Bug's Life, a charming little computer animated feature centering around the rodents of your backyard.
Yet Antz is more than meets the eye in several regards.We focus on an ant colony in New York City where ant Z-4195 (voiced by Woody Allen - whose character is also nicknamed "Z") is gridlocked in an oppressively totalitarian society where individualism is discouraged and conformity is king.
Woody Allen comfortably sinks into his role as a neurotic worker, Gene Hackman is brilliantly cast as the villain, Sharon Stone works as the princess, and Sylvester Stallone and Danny Glover exercise their roles to a pleasant extent.Visually, as stated before, this is one of the darkest animated films I've seen - one of the very few not to be dominated by eye-popping, candy-coated colors while being soaked in a nice innocence that's easy to swallow.
At the very least, this is a footnote in the world of animation, not just for its successful cast but for its darker themes and appearance that contrast it from the typical animated film.Voiced by: Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, Danny Glover, Jennifer Lopez, Christopher Walken, Anne Bancroft, and Dan Aykroyd.
This movie tells the story of a ant named Z a lowly worker in a culture where the welfare of the colony far outweighs the welfare of the individual, who is unsatisfied with his station in life.
Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Jennifer Lopez, Dan Aykroyd, Danny Glover, and the rest of this AMAZING cast, have truly outdone themselves with their performances.The film score is excellent, and fits the movie perfectly.
Unfortunately, I was bored stiff during this imaginative but near-unwatchable film.The action hones straight in on Z-4195 (Woody Allen), a worker ant living a blue-collar existence among a colony of millions, who is none too happy with his lot in life.
The actors are a major upside to Antz, Sylvester Stallone who plays `Z's war buddy is excellent for a change, and Woody Allen is amusingly choice as `Z.' The characters are plenty likeable and the direction is great, but Antz drags on for many large drinks of coke, and the story soon begins to lose track of where its going.Antz isn't all that terrible, I guess it isn't my type of film.
Maybe not as good as Disney's but they get by.Worth the mention are the vocal talents of Woody Allen, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman & Jennifer Lopez.
with the princess of his colony.With a star-studded cast, headed by the always great Woody Allen, ANTZ!
Once again showing that animated films often have better plots, more humour and far greater emotional pull Antz delivers very well.
-then there is the acting, i think the movements of the ants in Antz :) are more realistic and human-like then the movements of those is A Bugs Life.
The real story behind Antz is an old Pixar employee coming over to Dreamworks and trying to get revenge at Pixar and Disney and "A Bug's Life" by ripping off the idea of using ants as lead characters and rushing through a poorly written script, gangly looking characters (even the females Sharon Stone and Jennifer Lopez look too similar to the male characters) Anyways, take all the improbabilities and scary animation...
But I thought while this isn't my new favorite animation movie by Dreamworks, it's still a good one.7/10.
"Antz" is an amazing animated film for one reason above all: awesome voice cast.
Kids that wacth this film will probably expect what came from Pixar (Toy Story and A Bug's Life).
But will they be able to understand a line from the lead Z- "Instead of killing the termites, how about we stuin them, with campaign contributions?"Plot follows a thoughtful Ant named Z (voiced by first time voicer and filmmaker Woody Allen) who, thanks to a trail of circumstances, meets and falls in love with the Princess ant Bala (voiced by a slick Sharon Stone) and gets mixed up in trying to save the colony of ants he lives with underneath Central Park.
Children might enjoy it as simply a cute animated film (although the aftermath of the battle between the ants vs.
If anything, "Antz" is like a kids' introduction to Woody Allen.But let's not make it too centered on our lovable neurotic loser.
You get it, this is a star-studded cast.But the voices are never distracting because the roles fit the actors' personalities and watching "Antz", you never feel like watching an 'animated film' but a film driven by fully written characters, not archetypes.
Or maybe we should try to see what went wrong with "Antz".Maybe it's the look of the "Antz", too brownish, too geometrical, compared to the cuter rotund faces of Disney, or the fact that you can't really sell a film to the kids if the main voice is Woody Allen, or maybe the parents thought one ant-themed film for the year was enough.
Maybe there were improvements to be made in the visuals' department and looking at the following movie "Shrek", you can tell DreamWorks adopted a more Disney-like style without abandoning their tongue-in-cheek and adult friendly humor.
And as a matter of fact, I wonder if the Pixar animators didn't try to pull some 'Antz" humor in their 2001 movie "Monsters & Inc." It's funny how the two rival studios can inspire one another.So, if "A Bug's Life" is a good film, "Antz" is a great one, so great it made the last Top 10 from the late critic Gene Siskel.
Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to 1998's AntzPlot in A Paragraph: Z (Woody Allen) a worker ant, tries to get the attention of Princess Bala (Sharon Stone).
A rather neurotic ant (Woody Allen) tries to break from his totalitarian society while trying to win the affection of the princess he loves.This cartoon sports an impressive list of celebrity voices, from Christopher Walken to Sylvester Stallone to Jennifer Lopez...
In an ant colony in Central Park, a neurotic ant Z-4195 (voiced by Woody Allen, which goes without saying is perfect casting), or "Z" for short, attempts to steal the heart of Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) while also freeing himself from an oppressive culture.
Some of Walt Disney's most beloved "children's movies" have this and more.The plot and characters are more philosophical and political but that does not distract from the overall story of love and teamwork coupled with individualism.
"Antz" was by far 1998's feature "animated" movie.
I think both films are very good, but most would probably say A Bugs Life takes the cake.
I thought A Bugs Life was good, but was too much like a kids movie for me.
I guess it's the mild level of vulgarity in Dreamworks animated movies that I like.
Woody Allen is perfect as neurotic ant Z in this entertaining CGI animated feature.
I think it had a great voice cast, and the story and animation were good as well.
Antz has all the elements that we can see in other animated movies, but I think that was the first one to introduce elements that only adults can understand..
Far superior to Disney's A Bug's Life, which was released at about the same time, Antz is a hugely enjoyable movie, which is well worth a look.
Casting Woody Allen as the leading voice in an animated film about ants may sound unlikely but it works surprisingly well in this 1998 Dreamworks release.
The humour, the one-liners in this thing are few, and many of them will escape the youngest viewers, as will some of the plot.Conclusion: 'Antz' is watchable becourse it does have some good parts, but if you're going to see a computer animated family movie, you're much better off with 'Monsters, Inc.' or 'A Bug's Life'.6 of 10.
Woody Allen still lives up to his unique style, blending humor and every other aspect of life in this short animated movie.
"Antz" stands head and shoulders above most Disney films (especially the very similar "A Bug's Life") because it proves that animation doesn't have to be watered-down, sugar-coated, talking-candlestick nonsense.
The movie contains themes such as war, death, and adult humor (Woody Allen).
The movie is very funny and the voices of Stallone, Stone, Allen, and Walken, work very well with the characters.
Yes, there are some dark moments but, in the UK, Antz does have a Parental Guidance rating.And, anyway, who says animated films have to be for kids?