Antz [SOUNDTRACK]

Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 1998)
• Original Release Date: November 3, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B00000DG1P
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,449 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It may seem extravagant for a film about a bunch of bugs, but soundtrack composers Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell engaged an 85-piece orchestra and 25-member chorus to perform the music for Antz. In the film, a worker ant with the voice of Woody Allen becomes a hero to his embattled colony and earns the affections of Princess Bala (the voice of Sharon Stone). Appropriately, the music is a mix of dramatic swells, romantic interludes, and celebratory jaunts, scurrying from sprightly jazz to classical dirge to Latin bounce--there are even allusions to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Guantanamera." This surprising diversity makes the music from Antz lively enough for children and sophisticated enough for adults. --Richard Martin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This CD Rocks!, October 11, 1999

By	David Gottner - See all my reviews

I like this CD. The music is lively and fun to listen to outside of the movie context. However, I was disappointed because some of the great musical moments in the movie are not on the CD. The end credits, the popular songs (like "I can see clearly now.") are not there, and the reference to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" that you can hear during the magnifying glass sequence is not present on the soundtrack.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic and varied score, November 10, 1998

By A Customer

One of the best animated film scores in recent years by relative newcomers Harry Gregson-Williams (The Replacement Killers, The Borrowers) and John Powell (Face/Off). Contrary to what a previous customer wrote, Hans Zimmer didn't compose a single note of this fabulous score. Zimmer was merely the album's executive producer, but his influence is clear. Especially enjoyable are the jaunty and exciting first two tracks, the ethereal WASPs' Theme (in Track 15) and the thrilling music to the shoe scene (Track 16). Another encouraging thing is that all of the music on this album is actually IN the movie, so this isn't just another one of those "music inspired by" albums we've been seeing so many of recently. Now, if we could only get a "Godzilla" score album...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, refreshing, tuneful score, February 13, 2001

By	Joshua Kaufman (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For the movie Antz, Dreamworks assigned two composers from Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures team to score the film. One might think it odd that a group known mainly for action music would be good at scoring an animated film (Zimmer himself excepted, to scored both The Lion King and Prince of Egypt previous to this). However, John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams prove they have what it takes to make the animation come to life through music.

The score starts off right away with a wonderful jazzy piano theme representing Z. Then on to track 2, The Colony, we have 'The Colony', a piece I can listen to over and over. It's a great smaba-like piece with a melody that's - get this - whistled. The tune is wonderful and memorable. Both the above themes are interspirsed throughout the score in many incarnations

There are plenty of other highlights to this score. '6:15 Time to Dance' is especially notible, as it starts off with a very stately and mudane version of the song 'Guantanamela', and about halfway through goes into a fast, full force version that I really really love, andthen backs down again. 'The Ants go Marching to War' contains new lyrics to the ant version of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', and ends with a great battle music. And speaking of battle music, the score is littered with lots of it, and it really shines over most Media Ventures scores because it's played by a full orchestra.

Overall, Antz is the score that just keeps going. It's got everything I like about a good score -- wonderful melodies, a great variety of fast and slow music, colorful orchestrations, and new ways of manipulating music that makes it unique. I highly recommend this score to anyone.