- “Every ant has his day.”
- ―Tagline
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as various members of an ant society. Some of the main characters share facial similarities with the actors who voice them. Antz is the first animated film before The Prince of Egypt, as well as the first CGI-animated film, by DreamWorks Animation and the second feature-length computer-animated film. It is the eighth overall movie to be created by DreamWorks.
The film was a result of a controversial public feud between DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steve Jobs and John Lasseter of Pixar, concerning the parallel productions of this film and Pixar's A Bug's Life. Which only worsened when Disney refused to avoid competition with DreamWorks' first animated release The Prince of Egypt. The film premiered on September 19, 1998, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 2, 1998. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and performed modestly at the box office.
Plot[]
The setting for the story is an ant colony in Central Park in New York City, under the chronological timespan of four days. The protagonist is Z-4195, or "Z" for short, a neurotic, pessimistic, and individualistic worker ant living in a wholly totalitarian society who longs for the opportunity to truly express himself. His friends include fellow worker ant Azteca and a soldier ant, Weaver. Z meets Princess Bala at a bar where she goes to escape from her suffocating royal life and falls in love with her.
In order to see Bala again, Z exchanges places with Weaver and joins the army. He marches with the ranks, befriending a staff sergeant named Barbatus in the process. He doesn't realise that the army's leader and Bala's fiance, General Mandible, is secretly sending all the soldiers loyal to the Queen on a suicide battle with the termites, so he can begin to build a colony filled with powerful ants. At the base of the tree near nightfall, Z realizes he's marching into battle, and all of the soldiers except for Z are killed by the acid-shooting Termites. Following the battle, all Z can find of Barbatus is his head. Before he dies, Barbatus tells Z to think for himself rather than follow orders all his life, leaving Z saddened and depressed. Z returns home and is hailed as a war hero, even though he did not do anything and was traumatized by the fighting. He was also congratulated personally by the secretly irate General Mandible, and is brought before the Queen. There he meets Princess Bala, who eventually recognizes him as a worker. When Z finds that he has been cornered in a lie, he panics and pretends to take Princess Bala "hostage" in order to trick the queen's guards into letting him leave rather than imprison him. They escape the colony and hide, and Z begins searching for the legendary Insectopia.
Word of the incident quickly spreads through the colony, whereupon Z's act of individually sparks a resolution in the workers and, possibly, a few soldier ants as well. As a result, productivity grinds to a halt. Seeing an opportunity to gain control, General Mandible begins to publicly portray Z as a war criminal who cares only about himself. Mandible then promotes the glory of conformity and promises them a better life, which he claims to be the reward of completing a "Mega Tunnel" planned by himself. Mandible learns Z is looking for Insectopia after interrogating Weaver. Knowing full well of the plane's existence, Mandible sends his second-in-command, Colonel Cutter, to its location to retrieve the Princess and possibly kill Z. Cutter, however, slowly begins to have second thoughts about Mandible's plans and agenda and develops sympathy for the worker ants.
Z and Bala, after a misdirection and a brief seperation, finally found Insectopia, which consists of a human waste-bin overfilled with decaying food (a treat for insects of all kinds). Here, Bala begins to reciprocate Z's feelings. However, during a break, Cutter arrives and flies Bala back to the colony against her will. Z finds them gone and makes his way to rescue Bala, aided by a wasp named Chip, whom he met earlier and has made himself drunk grieving over the loss of his swatted wife, Muffy. Z arrives at the colony, where he finds that Bala has been held captive in General Mandible's office. After rescuing her, he learns that General Mandible's "Mega Tunnel" leads straight to a body of water (the puddle next to Insectopia), which Mandible will use to drown the queen and the workers who have gathered at the opening ceremony. Bala goes to warn the workers and her mother at the ceremony, while Z goes to the tunnel exit to stop the workers from digging any further. He fails, however, and the water leaks in. Z and Bala unify the workers into a single working unit and build a towering ladder of ants toward the surface as the water continues to rise.
Meanwhile, General Mandible and his soldiers are gathered at the surface, where he explains to them a vision of a new colony with none of the "weak elements of the colony". However, he is interrupted when the workers successfully claw their way to the surface and break through. Mandible angrily tries to kill Z but is stopped by Cutter, who finally rebels against Mandible and instead tries to help Z and the worker ants out of the hole "for the good of the colony." The enraged Mandible charges toward Cutter, who is, however, pushed away by Z at the last moment. Mandible inadvertently takes Z with him back down into the flooded colony and is killed when he lands upon a root while Z falls into the water. Cutter, taking charge, orders the other soldier ants to help the workers and the queen onto the surface while he rescues Z. Although it seems that Z has drowned, Bala successfully resuscitates him. Z is lauded for his heroism and marries Bala. Together they rebuild the colony with Cutter as their General, transforming the colony from a conformist military state into a community that values each and every one of its members.
Cast[]
- Woody Allen as Z
- Gene Hackman as Mandible
- Sharon Stone as Bala
- Sylvester Stallone as Weaver
- Jennifer Lopez as Azteca
- Christopher Walken as Cutter
- Danny Glover as Barbatus
- Anne Bancroft as Queen
- Dan Aykroyd as Chip
- Grant Shaud as Foreman
- John Mahoney as Drunk Scout
- Jane Curtin as Muffy
- Paul Mazursky as Psychologist
Additional Voices[]
Release[]
In 1996, a teaser trailer for Antz, depicting the opening scene with Z in the ant psychiatrist office, first played in theaters in front of select prints of 101 Dalmatians (1996 film). Anticipation was generally high with adult moviegoers rather than families and children.
Antz was released to VHS and DIVX on February 9, 1999, and to DVD on March 23, 1999, becoming the first feature-length CGI-animated feature to be available on DVD. However, the DVD release used a 35mm print of the film to create the copies, rather than using the original files to encode the movie directly to video.
Critical Reception[]
Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 85 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Featuring a stellar voice cast, technically dazzling animation, and loads of good humor, Antz should delight both children and adults." Metacritic gave the film an average score of 72/100 based on 26 reviews.
Roger Ebert praised the film, saying that it is "sharp and funny". The variety of themes, interest visuals, and voice acting were each aspects of the film that were praised. Ebert's partner, Gene Siskel, greatly enjoyed the film and preferred it over Pixar's Bug's Life. Siskel later ranked it No. 7 on his picks of the Best Films of 1997.
Box Office[]
The film topped the box office in its opening weekend, earning $17,195,160 for a $7,021 average from 2,449 theaters. In its second weekend, the film held the top spot again, with a slippage of only 14% to $14.7 million for a $5,230 average and expanding to 2,318 sites. It held well also in its third weekend, slipping only 24% to $11.2 million and finishing in third place for a $3,863 average from 2,093 theaters. The film's widest release was 2,929 theaters, and closed on February 18, 1999. The film altogether picked up $90,757,863 domestically, almost recouping its $105 million budget, but failed to outgross the competition with A Bug's Life. The film picked up an additional $81 million overseas for a worldwide total of $171.8 million, making it a moderate box office success.
Gallery[]
Cancelled Sequel[]
In March 1999, when DreamWorks closed its television animation unit and merged the direct-to-video unit with the feature animation, the sequel was still planned, but eventually the project was cancelled.[1] In August 2015, it was revealed that a direct-to-video sequel was in development at DreamWorks at the time of the release of Antz. Like the second film, it was planned to be produced by Pacific Data Images, and was also considered for theatrical release.[2]
[]
v - e - d  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
