Antz **** (1998, voices of Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman) – Classic Movie Review 1557

Directors Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson find an ingenious way to find new work for old Woody Allen – as the cartoon voice of an ant!

Allen voices neurotic ant Z-4195, a New York Central Park inhabitant and misfit worker who longs to be an individual in a totalitarian society that’s interested only in the good of the colony, run by General Mandible (Gene Hackman) and his henchman Colonel Cutter (Christopher Walken).

Z-4195 sets his sights on the beautiful Princess Bala (Sharon Stone), spoiled daughter of the Queen (Anne Bancroft). Z finds himself leading a revolution that becomes a celebration of individuality in the face of conformity while trying to win the love of the princess he adores.

Well, this eagerly Ant-icipated 1998 DreamWorks Animation cartoon is agreeably different, though it’s a bit too Ant-hropomorphic for comfort. With their instantly recognizable, inimitable tones, Allen, Hackman, Walken and Sylvester Stallone as Weaver score best in the voice departments.

Allen’s musings are very amusing, but the film could do with more funny jokes, and maybe more musical numbers. The ones there are, are all based on old pop songs and show tune standards – Allen even performs the 1947 Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe musical evergreen Almost Like Being in Love from Brigadoon! (Obviously, it’s no competition for Gene Kelly’s haunting rendition in the 1954 film version of Brigadoon.)

But if Antz is a little bit patchy, and rather so-what at times, it’s nevertheless all quite a lot of fun for the adults it seems to be aimed at. Will the kids like it? Maybe, maybe not.

In the end, despite the ingenious technology and occasional flashes of brilliance on show, it’s a bit old-fashioned, and nothing Disney couldn’t have made. But, if the characters are visually on the ordinary side, and, in some cases, even on the unappealing side, the computer animation (by Pacific Data Images) is perfect and really quite amazing for 1998. The film’s pioneering computer-generated imagery become DreamWorks dominant form of animation, replacing 2D animation by 2003.

About a Boy and American Pie’s Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz join with Todd Alcott is scripting this likeable and appealing movie from the story by Chris Miller.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1557

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