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Antz, brought to us by Dreamworks Pictures, was one of the early films that utilised the digital revolution and was around the same time as Toy Story and A Bugs Life. It is direct competition with A bugs Life, however this is a very different kind of films, is aimed at a different audience ... Read review
Woody Allen as a worker ant with an inferiority complex? Sylvester Stallone as an affable ... more
soldier ant who discovers that digging tunnels is cool? The animation playground we all knew so well is turning into a theme park full of in-jokes for grownups.An...
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Woody Allen as a worker ant with an inferiority complex? Sylvester Stallone as an affable ... more
soldier ant who discovers that digging tunnels is cool? The animation playground we all knew so well is turning into a theme park full of in-jokes for grownups.An...
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With a superstar cast and breakthrough visual effects, DreamWorks' spectacular comedy ... more
adventure, 'Antz', became 'king of the hill' with audiences and movie critics alike. Everyone digs 'Antz' !Life is no picnic for Z, a small worker with some very big ...
With a superstar cast and breakthrough visual effects DreamWorks' spectacular comedy ... more
adventure ANTZ became 'king of the hill' with audiences and movie critics alike. Everyone digz ANTZ! Life is no picnic for Z a small worker with some very big ide...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Very funny, animation, characters Disadvantages: Not really suitable for kids.
How would you feel? You are one lowly ant in a colony of millions. Anything that you do is for the good of the colony, you really don’t matter. Even the resident shrink tells you that you have had a breakthrough when you realise your potential as being insignificant. All you do day in and day out, is work with the millions of other worker ants to help construct a mega tunnel that is supposed to be for the good of the colony as a whole. ...next in line to the throne, engaged to an emotional inept general, and carry the burden of carrying on your mothers work after she goes. What you wouldn’t give for a moment of complete anonymity where you don’t have a care in the world other than being able to carry about 10 times your own body weight.
So, on a typical night in the local bar, the unlikely happens and the two worlds collide. Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) decides it would ... more
How would you feel? You are one lowly ant in a colony of millions. Anything that you do is for the good of the colony, you really don’t matter. Even the resident shrink tells you that you have had a breakthrough when you realise your potential as being insignificant. All you do day in and day out, is work with the millions of other worker ants to help construct a mega tunnel that is supposed to be for the good of the colony as a whole.
On the other hand, you could be next in line to the throne, engaged to an emotional inept general, and carry the burden of carrying on your mothers work after she goes. What you wouldn’t give for a moment of complete anonymity where you don’t have a care in the world other than being able to carry about 10 times your own body weight.
So, on a typical night in the local bar, the unlikely happens and the two worlds collide. Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) decides it would be fun to hang out with the lower ants and asks a random guy, namely Z (Woody Allen) to dance. They have one of those ‘moments’ but after a fight breaks out in the bar Z finds out that his new found beau is actually the princess and is willing to try anything to get to see her again. So, he forms a plan to swap places with his soldier buddy Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) so that he can be a part of the walk past parade in front of the Royal Family and hopefully meet up with the princess to. Unfortunately, unbeknown to Z, General Mandible (Gene Hackman) has decided that the infantry is to go into battle with the sworn enemy the Termites, and to Z’s horror, he ends up marching into battle to what turns out to be a massacre. Luckily for Z, he befriends another soldier Barbatus (Danny Glover) who looks out for him in battle and saves his life. Z is the only ant to make it back to the colony and is deemed a war hero but in this, uncovers sinister plans being made by General Mandible and ends up accidentally kidnapping the princes and a whole host of problems happen from then on in with hilarious and dangerous consequences and leads to Z’s great quest for the mythical Insectopia.
Antz, brought to us by Dreamworks Pictures, was one of the early films that utilised the digital revolution and was around the same time as Toy Story and A Bugs Life. It is direct competition with A bugs Life, however this is a very different kind of films, is aimed at a different audience and really only has ants in common with each other. The film itself is a PG certificate and this becomes very evident as you watch the film.
Animation wise, it is a very impressive picture. All the characters move in a very ant like fashion and while they have been ‘humanised’ to a certain extent, retain more of a bug like appearance than you see in A Bugs Life. The intricacies of the workings of the ant colony together with the detail and imposing scale of the great outdoors (the picnic is fantastic!) which goes right down to the top of the grass being shredded in lawnmower fashion, make for a stunning display of the possibilities of computer generated animation.
The storyline while a little basic (little guy defeats the big guy) is full of action and fun filled scenes and is certainly adequate for this type of movie. It basically revolves around the concept of individuality and Z’s struggle to fit into that. It’s the script that helps to carry the stroryline and without a doubt, why the film received its PG certificate. You may think that this is a kids film, but in all fairness, an awful lot of the dialogue and jokes are really quite adult in nature and would simply fly over the heads of young children. For example, one quote that immediately springs to mind is when Z and Bala first get out of the colony and after Bala goes mad at him for the accidental kidnap, he tells her that:
“I was going to let you become one of my most erotic fantasies “
There is also a scene in the bar when Z and Weaver are having a conversation when Weaver tells Z to drink up. He replies to that with:
“call me crazy, but I have a problem drinking from the anus of another animal”
To me, not really suitable for the little kiddies out there. There are some very funny bits in the script, one clever bit that I likes was when Z referred to himself as a “soil relocation engineer” and the scene at the picnic with the Wasps is great.
The master stroke with this film to me, is how the characterisation of the lead roles very much works around the actor or actress that is voicing the part. Woody Allen shines through in Z, and he portrays the character in his well known style. The character of Weaver, is very reminiscent of characters played by Stallone in his past films, Colonal Cutter (the Generals right hand man) played by Chirstopher Walkin, Mandible by Hackman and Bala by Stone all carry the same characteristics of previous parts they have all played. This means that when watching the film, you are able to believe the characters better as you are able to bring in memories of past acting parts, and each actor/actress is able to put across their own personality in a more believable was compared to if they were just putting their voice to a completely different character. Again, this may be lost on younger audience as they may not have seen these people in other films so the effect does not transcend to that generation.
The DVD contains quite a few extra’s on it that give a very good insight into the new (at the time) field of computer generated animation. It has lengthy programs which detail the basics of the art, how the animators used the features of the actors and actresses to animate the ants as well as how they decided on how to design each of the main characters. It has the standard theatrical trailer, behind the scenes and of course, the audio commentary that you can have playing at the same time as the film itself. Also included, is a four page booklet which contains the production notes which is quite interesting to read when you are watching the film for a second or third time. To conclude, I greatly enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it. That is, to adults! I am not too sure what younger kids would make of it as I do feel that a lot of the humour, concepts and characters would simply go over their heads. Visually, I think they would love it but I am not sure that this would be enough to hole their attention the whole way through. To that end, I have given the film three stars. As a kids film, I think its just too clever and I think that as an animation, most adults would not think about getting a hold of this to watch – but that’s their loss!
So, for kids, I would say A Bugs Life may be better, but for us big kids, this is by far the better film.
Running Time – 80mins
Cast List (from imdb.com)
Woody Allen .... Z (voice) Dan Aykroyd .... Chip (voice) Anne Bancroft .... Queen (voice )Jane Curtin .... Muffy (voice) Danny Glover .... Barbatus (voice) Gene Hackman .... General Mandible (voice) Jennifer Lopez .... Azteca (voice) John Mahoney .... Grebs/Drunk Scout/Additional Voices (voice) Paul Mazursky .... Psychologist (voice) Grant Shaud .... Foreman (voice) Sylvester Stallone .... Weaver (voice) Sharon Stone .... Princess Bala (voice) Christopher Walken .... Colonel Cutter (voice)
Advantages: A great film for everyone Disadvantages: None
...the part he played in Antz was brilliant!
The main character in the film is an ant called Z whose voice is the voice of Woody Allen. He is madly in love with Princess Bala, whose voice is provided by Sharon Stone.
He meets and dances with Princess Bala when she visits the ant bar as an adventure one evening and from that moment he is smitten and wants to see her again.
Z is just a worker ant but dreams of being able to make his own decisions and ... ...unchanging daily routine. After meeting Princess Bala this feeling becomes even stronger and he needs to do something to make her notice him again.
His friend is a soldier ant whose voice is provided by Sylvester Stallone, and they change places one day so that Z can go on parade and see his beloved Princess Bala again.
The soldiers are then sent out to war and Z ends up being the only survivor and is then hailed a hero by all but General Mandible ...
SusanLesley 30.12.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Antz (Animated) (DVD)
...least, was a better movie. Antz is cleverer but were it not for the fact that it is an animation then it wouldn’t be getting many points for storyline or originality as, as our hero himself puts it, Antz is just a simple “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy changes underlying social structure movie”...
Antz is a story about...erm ants actually and in particular a certain colony of ants who reside in a quiet corner of New York’s Central Park. The ... ...premise behind Antz.
Where Antz succeeds is in its intelligent scripting, interesting characterisations and clever ideas. It works on two levels appealing to both children with its slapstick cartoonish humour and to adults with a whole heap of witty social observation which is going to fly waaaay of your child’s head but raise more than a few giggles from adults. For instance, instead of attacking the termites our Z suggests instead that perhaps ...
wampyrii 31.12.2001 (09.07.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Antz (Animated) (DVD)
Advantages: Very funny, superb animation Disadvantages: Not entirely a kids film
...a funny comedian again. In Antz that is what happens. Woody Allen becomes funny again. Angst ridden and uncertain yes, but funny. Allen plays Z and he is accompanied by an array of stellar Hollywood stars with him. Christopher Walken is in as the evil General Mandible, James Woods plays Hades, Sharon Stone voices Princess Bala and Sylvester Stallone who I suppose is another star you either love or loathe is a strong muscular ant, talk about being ... ...There is an impression with Antz that some people were trying to be very clever and they succeeded to such an extent that a lot of people missed what they were on about.
Whilst working for an adult though it has to work for the kids too. When I took my son he enjoyed it but a lot just passed him by. He found it less amusing than we did, he found it more exciting though. He did not recognise many of the characters voices but found it quite believeable ...
polydeuces 08.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Antz (Animated) (DVD)
THE BEST!!! Antz is a great movie. Good for children and adults alike. The story is great and shows the lives of the ants really well. The animation is brilliant and the movements are smooth!! The film is quite funny and at the same time dramatic. You have to feel so sorry for the ants when they are nearly drowned, and when they get stuck to the chewing gum on someones shoe. I loved this film and would recommend it to anyone, whether you have children ...
KatieB 26.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Antz (Animated) (DVD)
Advantages: Good film, good acting by everyone.... Disadvantages: none.....................
"Antz" is just like George Orwell's Animal Farm, but it is funnier. Sure, Orwell's brilliant satire is humorous, but is nothing like the razor sharp comedy that explodes from "Antz." Instead of building the communist regime from the ground,"Antz" brings us into the colony when the communism is in full swing. Banners are draped across the colony with slogans such as "Free Time is For Training" and "Do it for the Colony!" The members of the colony ... ...energy. The plot is: That it is well known that the queen is the head of the ant colony, but General Mandible is planning a military coup so that he can set up a police state and a dictatorship rather than the (relatively) peaceful communist government that exists now. Z is concerned that he is not doing any good in the colony, and he explains this in the hysterical opening monologue. Z is a complete non-conformist, and he has some dangerous ideas ...
moonlightmist 29.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Antz (Animated) (DVD)
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Advantages: Enjoyable for all ages Disadvantages: More special features appreciated
Disney's Toy Story was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the giant and Pixar Animation Studios. The second product of this relationship is A Bug's Life, a cute movie about an over-ambitious ant named Flick who accidentally causes big trouble for his colony. Now threatened by a group of grasshoppers, Flick is banished from the colony and returns with a group of circus performers who he believes will fend off the impending attack.
A Bug's Life marks the first time a Disney animated feature was released on DVD day-and-date with VHS, after their previously lackluster performance. Hopefully, all future animated features, will be released day-and-date as well. While Dreamworks' Antz was an incredible DVD packed full of special features, A Bug's Life is relatively barren. The extent of the features is the Pixar Animated ...
Z is an ant, a very small worker ant with ambition. He hopes in time to win the heart of a beautiful princess. When his friend offers to change places with him he jumps at the chance to become a soldier ant. What follows is a battle with General Mandible who plans to wipe out the colony.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
DREAMWORKS HOME ENTERTAINMENT; UNIVERSAL MUSIC OPERATIONS, PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT; DREAMWORKS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Audio Commentary, Behind The Scenes Featurette, Basics Of Computer Animation, Facial Animation, Character Design, Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Dutch English French
Animated
Animated
Professional reviews
Review
"...A wonderfully entertaining animated comedy....The actors' voices fit very nicely with the ants they play, and the animation is highly imaginative..." (Box Office, p.139, 01/11/1998)
"...Grown-up....Subversion slips by swiftly at 24 cels per second..." -- Rating: A- (Entertainment Weekly, pp.84-5, 12/02/1999)
"...Its shrewd computer animators have great fun seeing the world from an ant's-eye point of view....Mr. Allen sounds wonderfully invigorated by the chance to play a guy with all those legs..." (New York Times, p.E12, 02/10/1998)
"...Dazzling computer animation and inspired casting..." (Premiere, p.29, 01/10/1998)
"...ANTZ is refreshingly naughty and nice..." (Rolling Stone, p.80, 29/10/1998)
"...Very special visual effects....The two most impressive achievements of ANTZ are its rendering of character and multiplicity..." (Sight and Sound, p.41-2, 01/12/1998)
DVD Description
A restless worker ant changes roles with a soldier ant in order to get the girl, who just happens to be a princess. The animation is breathtaking in this story of true love amid a totalitarian state.
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