most people fit into two different categories : you either love woody allen , or you hate his guts .
my family , for the most part , hates him and his movies .
i think he 's very funny , but his shtick has gotten forced and contrived over the years .
so maybe taking his body away was the best decision any producer could have thought of .
unrestrained by physical boundaries , allen 's humor comes shining through .
those who had problems with his physical appearance will be able to join the rest of us in laughing at allen 's intelligent observations of life .
those who had problems with his verbal comedy may want to skip this one . in 1995 , a film was introduced to audiences which sparked their imaginations and showed them something they 'd never seen before .
toy story used state - of - the - art computer technology and presented a world of toys who would come alive when no humans were present .
many critics will call that a better film , but i believe they only say that because it was a completely original motion picture .
antz , however , has upped the ante considerably .
disney 's
a bug 's life is n't due out for another two months , and dreamworks seems to have received the better end of the deal .
by beating disney out , they have satisfied the audience 's thirst for computer - animated films .
but do n't let that fool you
: disney is definitely not scared .
in the past two years , competitions have broken out between studios .
in 1997 , it was the volcano duel .
in my opinion , dante 's peak came out way ahead of its predecessor , both in time and in quality .
volcano had an original premise , but destroyed that with some very ridiculous situations .
in 1998 , there are twice as many competing films .
first was the comet competition , and armageddon blew away
it 's cheesily dramatic competitor deep impact .
but now , it 's even more interesting , as one beloved studio ( disney ) goes up against the newcomer ( dreamworks ) . who will prevail ?
time will tell , but i 'm sure that mr .
mouse has nothing to fear .
this may sound like i did n't like antz ; on the contrary , i 'd put it up there with toy story .
but due to it 's pg rating , many parents may be put off by some of the dialogue which should n't appear in disney 's version .
some of the dialogue in antz pushes the envelope for a family - oriented film .
sexual innuendoes and profanity pop up occasionally , which makes dreamworks ' animated feature geared more for an adult crowd .
the humor is also written especially for adults , though many kids were laughing in the theater i attended .
this is the type of film that should be made for families more often : entertaining for kids and entertaining for parents .
antz begins with a hilarious monologue which seems a meld between woody allen 's shtick and franz kafka 's metamorphosis , the short story of a man who wakes up to discover himself as a bug .
z ( allen ) is a troubled ant , believing he was not made to be a worker .
"
when you 're the middle child in a family of five million . . .
"
he comments about his neglected childhood .
one night , z is sitting in a bar with his friend weaver ( sylvester stallone ) , discussing his pathetic place in life .
in walks princess bala ( sharon stone ) , whom no one recognizes without a crown .
bala asks z
is he would like to dance , and they engage in a pulp fiction - esque dance while everyone else is following the leader .
after discovering that she is the princess , z falls in love , but there 's a problem : bala is getting married to general mandible ( gene hackman ) , a ruthless leader who merely wants to control a better and stronger colony .
in order to do that , he must eliminate not only the queen ( anne bancroft ) , but the weakest of the colony , namely the worker ants .
but to get rid of the queen , he needs to get rid of the loyal army ants who would be willing to die for her .
he and colonel cutter ( christopher walkin ) come up with a plan to send the loyal ants off to battle , where they will surely be killed .
the queen is reluctant at first , but decides it is best for the colony .
meanwhile , z wants to meet bala again , and he asks weaver , an army ant , to switch places with him .
so z gets sent off to battle , but he manages to survive the slaughter by the termites .
the battle sequence is absolutely stunning , though you may have flashbacks to starship troopers , which contained a very similar sequence .
however , antz and that 1997 film were both in production around the same time , so the similarities are merely coincidence .
the second half of the film revolves around z 's kidnapping of bala , and their search for a mythical place called insectopia .
there , an ant can be his own boss and have all the food he wants .
the adventures z and bala get into are surprisingly high in tension , especially one involving a magnifying glass .
looming over the targets like the spaceships from independence day ( in fact , i 'm just going to assume that the producers referenced id4 intentionally ) .
the ants look up in awe , and then a beam of fire blasts into the ground .
visually , it 's an exciting rush of adrenaline .
but do n't be fooled . . .
little kids should n't see this , as they may just try and copy it .
after seeing antz , i vowed never to intentionally step on an ant again .
hopefully , children will learn that killing ants is rather cruel . as an animated film , antz is probably the best you will find to date .
visually , it 's as stunning as what dreams may come
.
the best aspect of animation is the fact that the characters are n't limited by gravity .
they can take ridiculous situations and make them seem plausible .
one great moment involves a mass of worker ants bunching up to form a wrecking ball .
the animation is so perfect that you can virtually see every single ant on the ball . however , the most exhilarating scene involves bala getting stuck to the bottom of a young boy 's shoe .
it 's truly a great example of film making at its finest .
with computer technology , the animators have carefully made the ants ' faces look similar to the actors providing the voices .
the best example would have to be barbatus ( danny glover ) .
at one point , you can even see the pores on his face ( although , i doubt ants have pores . . .
do they ? ) .
barbatus also has a touching but rather gruesome scene as he has his final words with z without a body .
young kids may be disturbed by the site of a dismembered head , but a good deal of humor is derived ( more appropriate for adults , of course ) .
disney 's
a bug 's life looks good , but i do n't know if they will be able to best dreamworks ' newest animated feature in terms of animation .
if not , then dreamworks will have done something no other studio could do : go head to head with the big mouse , and knock him down ( yes , anastasia was good , but not nearly as good as even the worst of disney ) .
vocal talent is always essential to an animated feature , and antz has one of the best line - ups seen since toy story .
in fact , it far exceeds that one .
woody allen has always been funny , but here
he transcends most of what he 's done in the past few years .
without a body , his comic timing is the most noticeable thing .
in fact , i 'm pretty sure that the writers let him improvise a lot of his lines .
sharon stone as bala shows off some of her comic ability , though for the most part , stone works best as a dramatic actress .
sylvester stallone ( teamed up with stone once again ) is beginning to solidify his statement that he wants to be an actor , not a typecast action star .
after a snub at the oscars last year , stallone is proving himself as the serious ( or comedic , as illustrated here ) actor that he is .
gene hackman is superb as the gruff - talking general , almost doing another take on his crimson tide persona .
christopher walkin is probably more noticed by his voice , and so many people will remember him from such hits as batman returns .
anne bancroft has a minimal role , but she 's effective nonetheless .
danny glover has a small role , but he does a very , very good job
.
dan aykroyd and jane curtin also lend their voices as two lovesick , euro - trash bees -- both are very unrecognizable , especially aykroyd .
jennifer lopez plays a worker ant who falls in love with weaver , although most people wo n't recognize her voice either .
many people will recognize grant shaud 's voice as the foreman .
he played miles on the tv show murphy brown .
this is definitely a huge cast with some high - profile names , and it will definitely help it 's grosses .
of course , you can probably tell where a lot of the $ 60 million budget went to , also .
directors eric darnell and lawrence guterman are relative newcomers ( though guterman did direct a 1994 feature , headless ! ) .
but both show an incredible talent for this type of a picture .
tense at times , and very funny throughout
, the two hold this film together like professionals .
the screenplay by todd alcott and chris weitz is quite simple in plot , but it contains a lot of subtlety that makes the film more suitable for adults .
kids will delight in the animation , while parents can laugh heartily at the humor .
most of it will go over young children 's heads .
does that mean you should n't take kids to see it ? not at all .
they will have a lot of fun watching this one .
what is great is the themes that are given to us .
part social commentary , part romance story , and part moral drama , antz gives everyone something to talk about , whether it be the animation , or the discussions of individualism and community .
thankfully , it 's not subtle in either aspects .
antz is rated pg for mild language and some intense action .
sometimes the language can be pushing the limits for a family movie , but the violence is what should keep kids at home .
the battle scene has ants melting in acid , and bugs being speared to death .
and the magnifying scene shows an ant disintegrate in the beam of sunlight .
but other than that ( and some sexual innuendos ) , it 's a perfect choice for some wholesome fun at the theaters .
i doubt many children will understand the sexual innuendos unless they are old enough , but it 's still advisable to leave really young children at home .
have i confused you enough ?
if you do take your kids , i recommend seeing the film with them , because more than likely ,
you 'll enjoy it the most .
Output: P