Antz: Hormiguitaz

Antz is an animated movie that wasn't appreciated upon its initial release. After the family friendly movie Toy Story, I feel like people weren't ready for something a little bit darker, and more intense. This movie has death (and a lot of it at that), it has violence, it has gore, it has humor, it has swearing, and it has alcohol in it... pretty epic huh (granted, just being edgy doesn't necessarily equal good). The movie Antz which actually came out before A Bug's Life by about a month takes the role of what ants do a lot more seriously and better captures an ant like atmosphere. The movie A Bug's Life really doesn't seem to understand what ants do or how their colonies work, but the movie Antz does it all. There are the miners, the warriors, the drones (the ones with wings) the queen and others. The voice acting itself is also pretty good and Woody Allen fits the role of Z perfectly. The animation was also pretty advanced for its time, because it did many things that were hard for that time: Water, large amounts of moving objects, realistic face movement, realistic body movement, lighting, and many others.

The nice thing about this movie is that it doesn't pretend to be a kids movie. Ants swear in it (the word b****in is used once) and as mentioned there is a lot of violence. Like a very intense scene where the ants are trying to fight a termite colony and the ants are getting attacked by acid, are getting decapitated, and dying in other various barbaric ways. The thing is that this movie doesn't cover up death. When someone dies, the movie won't hide it.

The other cool thing in Antz is that the rest of the insects in the movie are as hideous and monstrous as they should be. Praying Mantis? It is infinitely larger than an Ant. Wasps? Like giants. It gives this overwhelming sense that Z is not only small in the ant world but also small in the insect world as well. There is nothing that can't kill him (even the princess could if she wanted).

Honestly this movie was really good, it has a good story, it has good characters, it is realistic, and has nice action. One of Dreamkworks' best.

From what I have read, DreamWorks got the idea of an insect animation film from Disney, rushed to market before the Disney version was released, and that they think this will enable them to compete against Disney in the animated film market? I think some reevaluation is in order.

ANTZ is not bad, far from it. The animation is very well done (to this untrained, unschooled eye) and the voices well-acted (and maybe Woody wasn't so much acting as being Woody). The feel-good plot was well......very Disney. Certainly worth the price of a rental. And I mean this for adults. I can't comment of the movie being too dark and violent for small children, well maybe very small children.

Nothing earth-shaking or leading edge, but good ol' entertainment.

Antz is rock-solid entertainment, and while it isn't as funny as Bug's Life, it has a great social message that Bug's Life lacks. I thoroughly recommend this movie, and the only criticism I have is that there are some scenes that young children might find frightening, like the fight between the ants and the big green bugs. The visuals are a delight, as well as the tightly-structured script.The story, while simple, is well-told, and is sensibly revolved around the life of Z, brilliantly voiced by Woody Allen. Sharon Stone was suitably feisty as Princess Bala, and Sylvester Stallone was a huge surprise as Weaver. Christopher Walken was also good, but it's the villain who steals the show, like Bug's Life. Gene Hackman's General was deliciously sinister, and quite complex, very similar to Kevin Spacey in Bug's Life(Hopper is SLIGHTLY better). All in all, a witty and charming film, that is recommended. 9/10. Bethany Cox

Sweet animated comedy. Story is not that original but is very well told and animated. Hilariously funny at times.

Voice cast is an all-star one: Woody Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Christopher Walken. Moreover, the cast delivers in spades - great casting.

I watched this for the first time with my sister as part of our Dreamworks Movie Marathon. Though not even remotely comparable to Pixar's A Bug's Life in terms of quality, Antz is an enjoyable overall experience. The main character was a bit annoying, but at least he was different than I expected. His romantic counterpart was very intolerable, and this resulted in an extremely forced romance between two characters who had no reason to fall in love.

That all being said, the movie had teeth, and it was unafraid to kill off characters left and right. The main theme of non-conformity really beat you over the head throughout the film, and could have been a bit more subtle. This basic plot leads me to believe this film is directed at kids, but the innuendo and adult-jokes make me think otherwise. Not sure if it's a good kids movie since I'm not a kid anymore, but Antz is a pretty good film with some problems here and there.

I'll be reviewing every Dreamworks film after my sister and I watch it, so Antz is a good start.