Antz (1998)

Directors:

Eric Darnell
Tim Johnson

Writers:

Todd Alcott (writer) &
Chris Weitz (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 October 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Every ant has his day.

Plot:

A rather neurotic ant tries to break from his totalitarian society while trying to win the affection of the princess he loves.

Plot Keywords:

Angst | Bad Guy | Espionage | Fantastic | Search

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Z (voice)
Dan Aykroyd	...	Chip (voice)
Anne Bancroft	...	Queen (voice)
Jane Curtin	...	Muffy (voice)
Danny Glover	...	Barbatus (voice)
Gene Hackman	...	General Mandible (voice)
Jennifer Lopez	...	Azteca (voice)
John Mahoney	...	Grebs / Drunk Scout / Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Mazursky	...	Psychologist (voice)
Grant Shaud	...	Foreman (voice)
Sylvester Stallone	...	Weaver (voice)
Sharon Stone	...	Princess Bala (voice)
Christopher Walken	...	Colonel Cutter (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Additional Voices (voice)
April Winchell	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Also Known As:

Ants (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and menacing action.

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:G (Alberta/Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | South Korea:All | Norway:7 | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Belgium:KT | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | Iceland:L | Ireland:PG | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #36210)

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Woody Allen was offered accompaniment to sing "Almost Like Being In Love", but he refused, preferring to sing it a capella, and did so.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Z and Barbatus are standing side by side in formation. The platoon then executes a right face and Barbatus encourages Z to move up putting him side by side with Barbatus again. While this is convenient for conversation, it wouldn't have worked because whomever had been in front of Barbatus in formation would now be in that spot.

Quotes:

Z: Wow, every worker in the colony is here. Hey, wait a minute. That guy owes me money.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Just a Minute: (#4.1)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

I Can See Clearly Now

Great animation, nice story, but I'm not sure if this was meant for the kids

I just watched Antz and I have to say that over all I did enjoy it. I was looking forward to seeing this next animated flick that was on my list of "must-see's", it's one of those movies I always meant to get around too, but never did. When I saw that my friend had it, she was happy to lend it to me, and I couldn't wait to watch it. We have a great cast, including the coolest actor ever: Christopher Walken! Gosh, I could never say that enough.

Antz is about a worker ant, Z, who has never had the chance to prove himself any more than an average working ant. When he meets Princess Bala, that all changes and he begs his soldier friend to trade places with him so he can see the princess again. But he gets caught in war and is the only survivor by major coincidences, when the royal family finds out that he met the princess before, they want to kill him, but he takes the princess out to find "insectopia" as his hostage for survival. But they must go back to stop the general from drowning the colony to build a new one.

The only thing that disturbed me was there was a little bit of language that seemed just a little too much for kids who would be under the age of 8 or 9, not to mention the violence is a little mild, so I do warn parents that the PG rating isn't for nothing. But I thought while this isn't my new favorite animation movie by Dreamworks, it's still a good one.

7/10