ANTZ (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Directors: Eric Darnell, Lawrence Gutterman, and Tim Johnson Writers: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz Starring: Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Grant Shaud, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, John Mahoney, Anne Bancroft, Danny Glover, Paul Mazursky
"Antz" is the second feature film that utlizes the technique of coputer-generated animation, following the wildly sucessful "Toy Story." The technique works wonders, as things look more high tech and more is allowed to be done, but that really wasn't the reason why "Toy Story" was excellent. It was excellent because the characters were nicely-realized, and the story that they went through was surprisingly intelligent. It was as if "Toy Story" was a big breath of fresh air in the world of animation, not only technically but also content-wise.
"Antz" is obviously not going to be as much of a success as "Toy Story" because it follows in the trend rather than begin it, but it does take one thing in particular further: the characters in "Toy Story" were slightly neurotic, with their own nice quirks and idiosyncrasies, which made them likable and gave the film a nice edge that few cartoons posess. The lead character in "Antz" is an ant named Z, who is voiced appropriately and perhaps brilliantly by none other than Woody Allen, the chairman of the neurotic union of actors.
Even though it is the presence of Allen that really takes this over the top into a very entertaining movie, "Antz" is a very enjoyable film to begin with, probably because it's not the typical animated fare. In fact, "Antz" hardly qualifies as the kind of film that is directly aimed at children - it's designed to marvel children with a simple story and cartoon characters, but it's real audience is the adolescents and adult crowds, perhaps the "Simpsons" crowd, or at least anyone who's ever read Orwell or Huxley before.
"Antz" deals with an ant colony where the inhabitants are chosen at birth to be either soldiers, workers, or royalty. The protagonist of the film is Z, a nebbish worker ant who's introduction takes place in none other than the room of his local analyst. Z toils all day in the mines, like most of the ants, but yearns for something better, like a chance for personal growth. There is a rumor of a place called "Insectopia," where insects of all nations and creeds are free to hang out and do insect-things, but this rumor comes from the mouth of a delusional drunk ant, so there's very little chance that Z will ever find his salvation...or something like that.
The plot of this film deals with Z's meeting with the Princess of the ants, Bala (Sharon Stone), who escapes one night from her housing to hang out at the ant club, where she hits on Z and ends up dancing with him, leaving him just as he was really starting to like her. So Z manages to get himself into the army, thanks to his soldier ant friend, Weaver (Sylvester Stallone), and after a deadly battle with termites, finds he is the hero of the ants, and soon starts and adventure outside the ant colony with Bala to find Insectopia, thanks to a little bit of convenient clutziness.
The whole idea sounds a bit like and bit not like typical American animated fare. The story is simple, with a required love story, and even some conflict dealing with a conspiracy brought on by the evil General Mandible (Gene Hackman) to destroy the Queen (Meryl Streep) and all of the wimpy worker ants pops up. And some of the film's humor is definitely very universal, like Z's constant whining and status as the film's anchor and comic relief in the midst of melodramatic characters and storylines. However, the film finds its true humor in subjects that few children will really understand, like communism and totalitarianism.
The film's true audience is therefore the teenage/adult crowd, who will find much more humor in it than the children who will find many of the jokes shooting right over their heads. Like this summer's lessser "Small Soldiers," "Antz" doesn't aspire to be as much a hit with kids as it does with those who know their history lessons and who have read their novels for college classes. This is good and bad for this film, as it was for "Small Soldiers." While the jokes are clever, they never really expand into real rational thinking. This is more of a parody of socialism and its good and bad points than it is a real thought-out satire, as if the film were really afraid to go full blown and become as intelligent and philosophical as an episode of "The Simpsons," the best show currently on TV, and with good reason.
Nevertheless, "Antz" is extremely entertaining, mostly because the script, although a little too short (bringing the film to about an hour and 20 minutes, more or less), is sharp and witty, and the story really works. Strangely enough, the casting of Woody Allen, one of the most despised men working in film these days, works wonderfully, and Z is a highly likable character. Perhaps it's because Z doesn't resemble the aging filmmaker at all. He's short, doesn't wear glasses, and appears totally fragile. And his lines are so hysterical and so nicely delivered that it's almost impossible to imagine this film without a character like him.
Is this a Woody Allen animated film, though? Not really, though it's pretty close. His dialogue sounds so Woody-esque that it'd be a shock if I learned he didn't write most of his lines. This is familiar territory for him, what with his political rebellion in comedies like "Bananas" and "Sleeper." Not to mention the entire cast wreaks of old school Woody actors, as if this was a giant in-joke reunion. Sharon Stone, you may remember, blew Woody the kiss from a train in "Stardust Memories." Gene Hackman starred in his "Another Woman." Sylvester Stallone played one of the subway thugs in "Bananas." Christopher Walken (who plays one of Hackman's goons, and to hilarity) gave a hilarious monologue in his Oscar-Winning "Annie Hall." And Meryl Streep played his second ex-wife in "Manhattan," for which she reportedly vowed she'd never work with him again. Glad she kept that promise.
What's nice is this film would probably have worked with someone else in the lead. It has a really nice, joking tone to it that never takes itself too seriously, and the rest of the cast is nicely killer, with some real hilarity due to a great performance by Sylvester Stallone, who's not afraid to mock his earlier career. Nice to see that some people in Hollywood don't take themselves seriously.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
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