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Antz
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Eric Darnell Tim Johnson
Produced by	Brad Lewis Aron Warner Patty Wooton
Written by	Paul Weitz Chris Weitz Todd Alcott Chris Miller
Starring	Woody Allen Dan Aykroyd Anne Bancroft Sharon Stone Gene Hackman Sylvester Stallone Christopher Walken Danny Glover
Music by	John Powell Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography	Simon J. Smith
Editing by	Stan Webb
Studio	Pacific Data Images
Distributed by	DreamWorks
Release date(s)	October 2, 1998 (1998-10-02)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Gross revenue	$171,757,863

Antz is a 1998 American computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It is the first animated film, as well as the first CGI-animated film, by DreamWorks and the second American computer-animated film after Toy Story. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, 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.^[1] The film was originally released to theaters on October 2, 1998, and was released on home video on March 23, 1999.

It became the first computer-animated movie to show digital water. ^[2]

Plot

The setting for the story is an ant colony in Central Park in New York City, under the chronological timespan of 4 days. The protagonist (Woody Allen) is an ant named Z-4195, or "Z" for short, a neurotic and individualistic ant living in a wholly conformist society who longs for the opportunity to truly express himself. His friends include Azteca (Jennifer Lopez) and a soldier ant, Weaver (Sylvester Stallone). Z meets Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) 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 Barbatus (Danny Glover), another soldier, in the process. He doesn't realize that he's actually marching into battle, however, and all of the soldiers except for Z are killed by acid-shooting termites. Barbatus is found only with his head and fatally injured. Barbatus also tells Z not to make his mistake - to think for himself rather than follow orders all his life.

Z returns home and is hailed as a war hero, congratulated personally by 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 takes Princess Bala hostage. They escape the colony and hide, and Z decides to search for the legendary Insectopia. Bala reluctantly decides to go with him.

Word of the incident quickly spreads through the colony, whereupon Z's act of individuality sparks a revolution in the workers. As a result, productivity grinds to a halt. Infuriated, General Mandible begins to publicly portray Z as a villain 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 place's existence, Mandible sends Colonel Cutter (Christopher Walken) to its location to retrieve the Princess and kill Z. Cutter, however, shows sympathy for the worker ants.

Z and Bala, after a misdirection and a brief separation, finally find Insectopia, which consists of a human-sized wastebin overfilled with decaying food (a treat for insects of all kinds). Here, Bala begins to return Z's feelings. However, during a break, Cutter arrives and takes Bala back to the colony. Z finds them gone and makes his way back to the colony to rescue Bala, aided by a wasp/WASP named Chip (Dan Aykroyd), whom he met earlier and has made himself drunk grieving over the loss of his swatted wife, Muffy (Jane Curtin).

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 (a puddle in human view but a lake to the ants), which Mandible will use to drown 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 towards the surface as the water continues to rise.

Meanwhile, General Mandible and his soldiers are gathered at the surface, where he explains to them his vision of a new colony with none of the "worker filth". He is interrupted, however, when the workers successfully claw their way to the surface and break through. Mandible tries to kill Z but is stopped by Cutter, who helps Z out of the hole "for the good of the colony."

Mandible and Z fight above the hole and eventually fall into it. Mandible is killed but Z hits the water; Cutter rescues him as the other ants reach the surface. 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

Main

• Woody Allen as Z, a meek but individualistic worker ant and the protagonist of the film. He switches places with Weaver and falls in love with Princess Bala.
• Sharon Stone as Princess Bala, the daughter of the Queen Ant. She is initially engaged to General Mandible, but falls in love with Z.
• Gene Hackman as General Mandible, the villain of the film. Mandible envisions a colony as being inhabited by the "strong elements", and seeks to fulfill the vision by sending the soldiers on a suicide mission and having the workers dig a tunnel to their own doom; wishes to marry Princess Bala and make her his queen and the mother of thousands of larval children, but she ultimately calls off the wedding and rejects him. Is killed by falling to his death on a root at the near-end of the film.
• Sylvester Stallone as Weaver, a soldier ant and Z's best friend.
• Jennifer Lopez as Azteca, a worker ant who eventually becomes Weaver's girlfriend.
• Christopher Walken as Colonel Cutter, Mandible's deputy. He obeys Mandible's every command, but ultimately turns against him when Mandible tries to kill the worker ants.

Supporting cast

• Anne Bancroft as The Queen Ant, Princess Bala's mother
• Dan Aykroyd as Chip The Wasp: Chip and his wife, Muffy, befriend Z and Bala when they wind up in Insectopia. His wife is later killed by a fly swatter.
• John Mahoney as Head of the Workers
• Grant Shaud as The Foreman
• Danny Glover as Barbatus, a soldier ant who befriends Z when Z "joins" the army. He is later killed in the termite war.

The cast features several actors from movies Allen wrote, starred in and directed, including Stone (Stardust Memories), Stallone (Bananas), Hackman (Another Woman), and Walken (Annie Hall). Aykroyd later co-starred in Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.

Cameos

Credited

• Jane Curtin as Muffy The Wasp, Chip's wife
• Paul Mazursky as Psychiatrist
• Tim Johnson as voice most of the Ants

Uncredited

• Gene Hackman, Albert R. Brooks and Dan Aykroyd as Termites
• Dan Aykroyd and Sylvester Stallone as Bar Guys
• Sharon Stone as Bala's Friend #1
• Carol Alt as Bala's Friend #2
• Woody Allen and John Mahoney as Workers
• Albert R. Brooks and Gene Hackman as Soldiers
• Paul Mazursky and Woody Allen as Ridgeway The Soldier
• John Mahoney as Drunk Scout
• Mischa Barton and John Mahoney as Fireplace Bugs

Reception

Critics praised Antz with positive reviews. Roger Ebert praised the film stating it's "sharp and funny". The variety of themes, interesting visuals, and voice acting were each aspects of the film that were praised. The film holds a 95% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes,^[3] and making Antz as the highest rated feature from DreamWorks, and first (also for now, only) film from DreamWorks which rated more than 90% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and nominations

Production

Antz is notable for being part of the Disney-DreamWorks feud. The movie was released a little more than a month before Pixar's A Bug's Life, which is similar in many aspects. Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 to form DreamWorks. According to Katzenberg, the idea for Antz came from a 1991 story pitch by Tim Johnson that was related to Katzenberg in October 1994.^[4] However, Disney had been working on developing an ant movie since 1988.^[5] Pixar head John Lasseter pitched A Bug's Life the day Katzenberg left Disney in August 1994, and said he felt "betrayed" when he learned Antz was scheduled for release before A Bug's Life.^[5] According to Lasseter and Steve Jobs, Katzenberg offered to stop development of Antz if Disney moved the release date of A Bug's Life, which was coming out opposite DreamWork's The Prince of Egypt. Pixar refused.^[5]

The release date of Antz was moved up from March 1999 to October 1998 in response to Disney's refusal.^[4] Even though A Bug's Life was the first to be pitched, Antz was finished and released first.^[4] A Bug's Life, however, was more profitable.

Themes

The film explores aspects of individualism and collectivism^[6] and shows the transition of the colony from a dictatorship to a more-or-less traditional monarchy combined with a constitutional republic.

References

External links

• Antz at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Antz at Allmovie
• Antz at the Internet Movie Database
• Antz at Rotten Tomatoes
• Antz at Metacritic
• Antz at Box Office Mojo
• Script

From Wikiquote

Antz is a computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks, released in 1998. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, 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. The film was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson.

Z

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

I've got to believe there's someplace better for me. Otherwise I'll just curl up into a larval position and weep.

I think everything must go back to the fact that I had a very anxious childhood. You know, my - my mother never had time for me. You know, when you're - when you're the middle child in a family of five million, you don't get any attention.

Will you calm down? You're not going to let a little near-death experience ruin your mood, are you?

Let's be real about this. Bala and I... Bala is a princess, and I'm a soil relocation engineer.

There you have it: your average boy-meets-girl, boy-likes-girl, boy-changes-the-underlying-social-order story.

Handling dirt is not my idea of a rewarding career.

Okay, I've gotta give myself a positive attitude. A good attitude even though I'm utterly insignificant. I'm, I'm insignificant... but with attitude.

[mocking the scout] Nothing like a little post-traumatic stress disorder to make your day complete.

And, y'know, I finally feel like I've found my place. And you know what? It's right back where I started. But the difference is, this time I chose it.

We rebuilt the colony; better than before, because now we have a very large indoor swimming pool.

Think about it, Bala. Do you really want to be Mrs. Raving Lunatic?

(Seeing a penny) Who the hell is that? (In the Cartoon Network release he says) What's that?

Princess Bala

Worker, climb that tree and tell me where I am.

Labor? What you YOU know about labor? How would YOU feel if you were expected to give birth every 10 seconds for the rest of your life?

Dialogue

Ladybug: This tastes just like crap.

Beetle: Really? Let me try some. Hey, it is crap. Not bad.

Mosquito: What if, like, we're just these tiny things... and we're just, like, part of this whole other huge universe...that's, like, so big we don't even know it exists?

Ladybug: Man, that is so deep.

Bala : Excuse me. I guess you didn't recognize me. My name is Princess Bala. I've been traveling, and I'm all... schlumpy.

Chip: It's worse than I thought. They're Euro-trash.

Bala : Haven't I seen you somewhere before?

Z: Well, maybe, then again, maybe not, and then again... yowch.

Bala : That's it. You're the guy from the bar.

Z: Shhh.

Queen: Bar? What bar?

Bala : I... danced with this guy at the bar the other night. He was just a worker, then.

Queen: What were you doing at a bar?

General Mandible: Precisely what I want to know.

Bala : No. This isn't about me. I mean, Look at this worker. Look what he's done.

Z: I think - I think you're thinking of someone else. After all, I am a soldier.

Bala : Exactly. You WERE a worker, but now you're a war hero.

Queen: He's a worker?

General Mandible: A worker danced with my fiance?

Z: F-fiance? Hey, w-wait a minute. Th-this is not how it looks. I-I can explain this... hey, SHE was the one making all the moves.

Bala : Don't you get it? I chose you because you were the most pathetic bug in the joint.

Z: You know, I was going to let you become a part of my most erotic fantasies, but now you can just write it off.

Bala : I've been kidnapped by the village idiot.

Z: Who's the bigger idiot? The idiot, or the idiot who gets kidnapped by the idiot?

Z: Let me ask you something - what made you come to the bar that night?

Bala : I guess I was looking for a little trouble.

Z: Well, trouble's my middle name. Actually, my middle name is Marion, but I don't want you spreading that around.

Weaver: Z, I've known you for a long time, right?

Z: Definitely; you were born two seconds after me.

Weaver: And ever since I've known you, all you do is complain; what are you bitching about? If you haven't noticed, us ants are runnin' the show. We're the lords of the Earth!

Z: Hey. Don't talk to me about "Earth", 'cause I just spent my day hauling it around.

Other

Colonel Cutter: Time stands still for no ant.

General Mandible: Sacrifice. To some, it is just a word. To others it is a code. What matters is the colony...He's willing to live for the colony...to fight for the colony... to die for the colony.

Taglines

• Every ant has his day.