Antz was the first animated feature created by Dreamworks studio, and by design is a hybrid of sorts, intended to appeal to kids and family.
The story opens with Ant Z4195 (Woody Allen), a six-legged neurotic, stretched out on his shrink’s couch, kvetching about the injustice of his life on the anthill. To begin with, he hates dirt, is dissatisfied with being the member of a huge colony, was abandoned by his father when he was just a larva, can’t lift 10 times his weight, and is the middle child in a family of five million.
Can you hear Woody bringing his signature shtick from the streets of Manhattan to Antz?
So here we go: Z is at an ant bar when princess Bala (Sharon Stone), aristocratic daughter of the Queen (Ann Bancroft), decides to go slumming and spend an evening with the worker ants. Z is smitten with the princess, asks her to dance, and the two shock the bar denizens with their own outrageous, freewheeling version of a line danceto the song Guantanamera.
Z can’t get Bala out of his mind, and hearing that there will be a military parade passing in front of the royal stands, and hoping to get a glimpse of the princess, he convinces his good friend soldier ant Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) to loan him his helmet so he can join the parade and march with the other soldiers.
Meanwhile, the deranged General Mandible (Gene Hackman) is devising a plan to preemptively attack the termites (five times the size of the ants), and he convinces the queen to support his declaration of war. His objective is to take over the entire anthill.
So, unexpectedly, to his consternation, Z is swept away into battle with the other soldier ants. The question is, will Z survive, and ultimately win the heart of the fair maiden Bala, who has shared with Z that she is not happy with her life either. They have even dreamed of escaping to Insectopia (a nearby New York trashcan) where they can live happily ever after. Well, almost. There is a funny scene where the two are stuck to a wad of bubblegum, which is stuck to the bottom of an enormous tennis shoe.
Antz is an amusing, witty adventure with some wicked dialogue that touches on the tension that exists between being an individual or a conformist, all while encouraging the audience to root for the underdog, which would be Z. Actually, it’s hard not to care about these speck-sized creatures, especially Woody, aka as Z.
Antz. Animation. Directed by Eric Darnell. With voices of Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman. 1 hr., 27 min. Rated PG. Released in 2015.
Streaming on Prime/Fandango/Apple/YouTube.
