Customer Reviews

Antz

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

The Film: [Rating: 84%] Dreamworks challenger to the Disney ant favourite A Bug's Life arrives on a feature packed DVD complete with a truly sumptuous transfer. Ok, so it's a cartoon - but don't be put off since this one is loaded with far more wit and style than your average kiddie flick (isn't he in a A Bug's Life?) and features the vocal talents of Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Dan Aykroyd, Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Anne Bancroft and a shed load more fine actors. Imagine this many actors in a live-action film, the fees, the makeup, the trailer size contests - I guess doing animation must be a welcome bit of fun, allowing dress-down days too!

The story follows loner ant Z (pronounced zee, not zed!) who feels there should be more to life than his lot as a worker ant. Allen plays the lead, supported well be his best friend and soldier ant Weaver (Stallone). Z's path crosses that of the bored Princess Bala (Stone) whom he desperately wants to see again. Following a little persuasion, Z manages to trade places with Weaver for a place in the soldier's parade - held in front of the royalty! I don't want to give too much of the plot away since you're better off watching but Z's adventures to win the heart of the Princess, battle fierce termites Starship Troopers style, and his all round save-the-day antics are a treat for young and old alike. Kids will love this great cartoon but only adults will catch all of the humour and admire the truly stunning computer animation.

It's a pity this was released only one month before Disney's ant based film and the subsequent press scrutiny they both received in the 'Ant Wars'. They are very different films, just both animated and about ants. Personally I rate Antz slightly higher but I also think that from a kid's point of view the adult nature of much of it's humour may put A Bug's Life out in front as a point decision winner. Take the easy route and give both pride of place in your DVD collection!

The Picture: [Rating: 93%] Gob smacking! Awesome! Breath-taking! What more can be said about this 1.85:1 original aspect ratio transfer from an all digital source. Colours are to die for - see the Trash-topia sequence to see what I mean, black levels are spot on, detail is truly amazing, and there's not a single imperfection noticeable anywhere. There was some reported moans that the film was based underground too much, resulting in a too dark, earthy look - maybe an issue with a VHS copy but not here. This is what DVD and widescreen were made for!

The Sound: [Rating: 82%] Again, absolutely awesome (do I have to add the word DUDE to truly convince?). Some have mentioned the drowning out of vocals during some of the terrifically loud action sequences but this didn't affect me, even on (or maybe because of) my 'pantz' audio set up.

The Extras: [Rating: 70%] Directors Tim Johnson and Eric Darnel feature on an informative full-length audio commentary. There's a production featurette running under 5 minutes that is more interview soundbites than anything else. Much more revealing is the 11 minutes on The Basics of Computer Animation - focusing on the dance sequence and the water droplet, showing build up from storyboards to the finished, lighted & shaded animation. Brief but nice is the one minute on the Antz Facial System. Last of the documentaries is 10 minutes 26 seconds worth of wonderful hand-drawn art work showing the development of the Antz Character Design. There are four TV spots, along with the theatrical trailer, but the usual filmo's are blown away by a simple cast list. Finally there's also eight pages worth of production notes. Packaging the whole thing together is a fantastic menu system, fully animated with great transitions from one selection to another and all fully scored. Selecting the scene index from the front page (by moving the giant magnifying class!) will drop the 'camera' through the earth, taking you down to the Antz homeworld before displaying the four individually animated clips that represent four of the twenty six scenes available - top stuff!

And Finally... [Overall Rating: 86%] Superb presentation - more meat on the extras would have been nice, but this is nit-picking since everything here is gold-plated!

I'm a college student who happened to see this movie at a friends a few days before classes started, and I was quite surprised with the movie. The story isn't exceptoionally ingenious, but I laughed out-loud a few times. Some of the complaints about this movie would be expected: the language, the violence, and even a few sexual refrences. Like I said before, this is not a kid's movie. Also, the complaint about all the brown tones is annoying, the brown is ment to be drab because it is only seen in the scenes with the worker ants. It's symbolic, but anyone who thought a movie with Woody Allen would be a kid's movie wouldn't understand that either.

I just bought this video because I thought it would be a good one for my son. He does like it, but I don't think it was necessary to have any four letter words in this movie. It would have been much better without them. I know any day now my son is going to start repeating Bala's Dammit! My son is also asking me what happened to the guy(Barbados) in the ant vs. termite scene. Big disappointment, I will know better to just rent next time.

Of the two big insect movies going (Antz and A Bug's Life), I have to say that Antz has the more entertaining story. A Bug's Life takes the trophy for best animation. It's vibrant colors and textures are stunning. Particularly impressive are the grasshopper characters whose exoskeletons look amazingly lifelike. But the story in Antz is much more appealing from an adult's point of view. It is more sophisticated, and the movie, quite frankly, is a lot funnier. Woody Allen brings his distinctively neurotic style of humor to the lead role of Z. Allen fans will love his performance here. Both movies are excellent in their own right and deserve a place in your movie collection.

Cute adult movie, not for kids! Language and theme not suited for little ones.

If you're thinking of showing this movie to the kids, you better reconsider. This is a 3D-animated movie that is made for an older audience. Adult humor, mild profanity, intense action sequences, and characters that might not be interesting to little kids. Don't get carried away by the anthropomorphic ants in the film. It's not A Bug's Life (which I believe doesn't even come close to Antz). It's an animated ant film that has better dialogue, better humor, and better-looking animation. It's doesn't try to take itself too seriously, nor does it try to be too goofy, either. In a nutshell, this movie is fun, hilarious, creative, and very entertaining. Even though I still have a few problems with it (such as some questionable voice acting), I'd still recommend it to friends and family members.

Grade: 8.1/10

I'm 25 and I love this movie... good (smart) story, good acting and a good look. I've seen this and a Bug's Life several times and I MUCH prefer Antz... It seems more real than the bubble gum Disney stuff.

The DVD has a lot of nice features too. Highly recommended.

I thought the movie was great as far as the computer animation.. Even better than Bug's Life in that regard.. I would have reservations about letting my kids watch it until they were old enough to realize that some of the characters in it are a bit negative and have a somewhat more violent type attitude than those in Bug's Life.. Overall however, it contains a good message of heroism and devotion to one's family group..

I took my niece to see Antz when she was 2years old and I bought it later on to add on to my vast woody allen colection. she prefers antz to bugs life. The other day i was watching Play it again sam and she recognized his voice!

Great graphics. But come on--it's the nineties. Everyone has great graphics. No, I couldn't stand the movie. It's not tasteful for the adult viewer, and it's totally inappropriate for younger viewers. I'd give it a low score on all counts. The plot was self-righteously mundane, the humor was crude, and the rampant swearing added nothing.