THE AISLE SEAT - "ANTZ"

by Mike McGranaghan

Do you think Dreamworks has it in for Disney? The studio (which is run by former Disney honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg) released its comet-destroying-the-earth thriller Deep Impact a mere two months before Disney's similarly-themed Armageddon. Now they're launching the computer-animated insect comedy Antz just before Disney's almost-identical computer-animated insect comedy A Bug's Life. Moviegoers can be excused for feeling a sense of déjà vu at the multiplex these days.

Dreamworks won the first round - Deep Impact was a surprise blockbuster and, for my money at least, the better film (although I didn't actually like either film). Round two is shaping up as a real contest; Antz is a very clever film that sets the bar high for A Bug's Life (which comes from the makers of Toy Story and therefore will be a force in its own right).

In Antz, Woody Allen provides the voice of Z, a worker ant who is neurotic about his lot in life. His best friend is a soldier ant named Weaver (voice of Sylvester Stallone). One night - at the local ant bar - Z meets the beautiful princess Bala (Sharon Stone). They share a flirtation but at the end of the night, she walks out of the bar without him. In an effort to impress her, Z convinces Weaver to trade places with him for a day, so Z can attend a military meeting at the palace. Little does he know that Bala's fiancee, General Mandible (Gene Hackman), is about to declare war on a group of cockroaches.

Through a series of events, Z goes to war (imagine Saving Private Ryan with cockroaches and you get an idea of what it's like) and ultimately ends up lost outside the colony with Bala. Together, they look for "Insectopia," a fabled land of magic for insects of all kinds.

Antz has a lot of big-name celebrities doing voice work. In addition to those already mentioned are Danny Glover as another soldier, Jennifer Lopez as a worker, Anne Bancroft as the Queen, Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain as a pair of WASP-y wasps (indicative of the sophisticated humor in the film) and - my personal favorite - Christopher Walken as Mandible's second-in-command. For the record, any movie in which Christopher Walken is cast as an evil ant is automatically worth my time and money.

The computer animation used in the movie is impressive. There is something fascinating about watching a computer simulate things we have all seen. Antz does more than just simulate, though; it adds a whole unique perspective. For example, outside the colony, Z and Bala get stuck in a wad of gum on the bottom of someone's shoe. The animation allows us to see things from their point of view, as the ants are alternately ripped away from and plunged into the ground. I also liked the big wrecking ball that the ants form to break away dirt walls in the colony. The computer animation is fresh and very well done. My only complaint: the ants inexplicably look like they've been carved out of wood instead of looking real.

I also enjoyed the humor in the picture. In fact, I think Antz has much more appeal for adults than for kids. On the day I saw this movie, the children in the theater were restless while the adults were in hysterics. The jokes here are very witty on an adult level, and the theme (conformity vs. individuality) is handled with a satiric slant. I got a big kick out of the wasps, but I wonder how many children are going to get the joke. It might also be prudent to add that there is a surprising amount of (mild) profanity in the film (about 5 uses of the word "damn," a couple of "craps" and the expression "what are you bitching about?") as well as some surprising violence in the battle scenes (one character's disembodied head keeps talking until the moment it dies).

All I really know is that as an adult, I found Antz to be a charming, entertaining movie. The plot isn't quite at the level of the one in Toy Story, but that doesn't mean this movie isn't a whole lot of fun. If filmmakers continue to use computer animation to make films this clever, it will be a very welcome trend.

( 1/2 out of four)

Antz is rated PG for mild language and menacing action. The running time is 1 hour and 23 minutes.