Review:
ANTZ
A movie review by Joe Barlow
(c) Copyright 1999
STARRING (the voices of): Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Dan Ackroyd, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Anne Bancroft DIRECTORS: Eric Darnell, Lawrence Guterman, Tim Johnson WRITERS: Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz RATED: PG RELEASED: 1998
"Handling dirt is not my idea of a rewarding career," laments Z, the tiny, unwitting hero of Dreamworks' remarkable animated odyssey, Antz. His frustration is understandable, for he lives in a rigid society that eschews individuality. All ants are expected to march, walk, think, and even dance in exactly the same fashion-- not good news for someone like Z, who longs for fun and love, even if it means reducing productivity.
The colony's social pecking order is well established; at birth, all ants are sorted into one of two groups: "workers," who construct tunnels, or "soldiers," who defend the colony against predators. Although society has deemed him a worker, Z (voiced by Woody Allen) could more aptly be called a dreamer; his mind wanders constantly, and his co-workers consider him a clumsy weakling who can lift a "mere" ten times his body weight.
Z's luck changes when he meets a fascinating gal named Bala (Sharon Stone) at the colony's saloon. They have fun together, but she's way out of his league: not only isn't she a worker, she's royalty-- the daughter of the Queen (Anne Bancroft) herself! But even so, the lovestruck Z can't forget her. He convinces his best friend, a soldier ant named Weaver (Sylvester Stallone), to switch places with him for one day, which will hopefully give Z the chance to speak with her again. It's a sound plan, but unexpected complications creep in when the soldiers are suddenly ordered to defend the colony against a possible termite invasion. Z, woefully unprepared for battle, suggests alternatives to combat ("Can't we just influence their political maneuvers via campaign contributions?"), but to his chagrin the confrontation is unavoidable.
Antz is a thoroughly involving film, filled to the brim with lovingly constructed visuals and a number of clever plot twists; the summary I gave in the preceding paragraphs reveals only a very small portion of the storyline. If it contained nothing more than entertaining visuals and humorous characters, the story would be perfectly acceptable. But the creators didn't rest on their laurels; surprisingly, Antz sneaks a fair amount of social commentary into its frames. It's not hard to recognize ourselves and modern society in the film, which is perhaps the reason the tale works so well: we all know people who act like the various inhabitants of the ant hill.
The intelligence of the screenplay was one of the biggest (and nicest) surprises for me; in addition to the predictable (though admittedly well done) gags involving magnifying glasses and picnics, Antz depicts a level of religious satire uncommon in what's ostensibly a kid's movie. How?
**SPOILER WARNING!**
While watching the film, it occurred to me that Z is essentially playing the role of a Christ figure: he becomes a teacher to the masses and is denounced by naysayers ("Does Z really care about us? Then where is he?"). In the finale, Z's selflessness saves the other ants, although he "dies" in the process... only to return from the dead. Hmm. I guess it's possible the filmmakers didn't intend any of these scenes to have religious overtones, but they seemed pretty obvious to me. Social satire also appears: the film's biggest laugh comes when an insightful worker ant experiences a revelation: "The workers control the means of production!"
The final shot of Antz borders on brilliant: the "camera" lifts up out of the ant hill and pulls further and further back, until we see that all the grand sights and visuals that have taken place over the course of the story occurred only a few yards from each other. The message is clear: perception is everything, and even big problems don't seem so insurmountable after you get some distance from them. It's a message we'd all do well to remember.
RATING: *** 1/2 (out of a possible ****)
Copyright (c)1998 by Joe Barlow. This review may not be reproduced without the written consent of the author.
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