I have a very, and I mean VERY complicated relationship with DreamWorks SKG. I would ordinarily look at this film studio run by former Disney Executive Jeffery Katzenberg (one of the greatest men who ever lived), as a film studio that pretty much exists to rip off and spite Disney and it's entire existence. And, I'm kind of right. After all, Katzenberg left Disney after The Lion King premiered with really bad blood with Michael Eisner and Roy Disney and set out to make himself the greatest executive who ever lived. The studio's earliest films are basically rip offs of the more successful Disney films of the time and are generally not remembered or not remembered fondly by many animation fans. But they you get films like The Prince of Egypt, of Kung Fu Panda, or the How to Train Your Dragon films that are done so well on their own that you cannot believe that the same studio that made these masterpieces was also making turds like Over the Hedge, Madagascar 2-4, Shrek 3-4, The Croods and of course the dreaded Turbo. So, despite me having a lot to say about the mediocre and bad DreamWorks films, I feel compelled to give the studio credit when it deserves it. So, like I have done with Disney and Pixar, I will now be tackling DreamWorks head on. Let's start with their first animated film, Antz, which is pretty much a more adulterated version of A Bug's Life, all the way down to the lead being an ant. Despite this, I actually kind of like this film a bit better. Surprised? Well, get used to it. DreamWorks has a way of making some of their pure rip off movies being entertaining and this is no exception.
Plot: Woody Allen stars as a neurotic ant named Z. Z feels that he doesn't have a place in the world and that he's just a basic ant in a colony of billions. And the other ants just mock him and tell him to get back to work. One night at a bar he begins dancing with a female ant and they really hit it off. But the female is revealed to be Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) and a lovestruck Z becomes determined to meet her. He coerces his longtime friend Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) into trading places with him in the army to allow him to meet up with the princess, but his battalion is sent off to war with a group of termites, which is actually a scheme set forth by General Mandible (Gene Hackman), who schemes to get rid of the Queen's loyal soldiers in order to stage a coup.
Z returns from the battle a hero (though he spent most of the time cowering), and is taken before the Queen. But when his identity is about to become exposed, Z takes Bala hostage and vanishes from the colony. While Bala continues to demand he take her back, Z decides to leave the colony life and begin searching for the legendary city known as Insectopia. Eventually, Bala warms up to Z as they have many encounters with various insects and dangers, but Bala is found by Mandible's second in command, Cutter (Christopher Walken) and taken back to the colony. Bala is imprisoned by Mandible, who plots to kill her mother and the rest of the "inferior" members of the colony with a flood and make her the Queen of his new colony, leaving Z to return to his exiled people and try to help them escape the schemes of the wicked general.
What's Bad?: Antz was probably the first animated film to overdue the whole famous cast as a cartoon thing. I mean, here's a brief list of just some of the stars in the movie:
Woody Allen
Sharon Stone
Dan Aykroyd
Christopher Walken
Sylvester Stallone
Jennifer Lopez
Gene Hackman
Danny Glover
While that may not be distracting to you all, it was certainly distracting to me. I don't hear characters when I listen to the dialogue in this movie. I hear the actor reading these lines in a normal movie. I mean, I instantly think of Lex Luthor whenever I hear Gene Hackman talk in this film.
What's Good?: While it may not have the charm that A Bug's Life had, this film most certainly has the gusto to make a film that would entertain all audiences. It deals with many things that animated films do cover, but it takes different angles. If people felt the whole "being one of a kind" angle was stale through films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Toy Story, Mulan, or Hercules, then I reccomend you take a gander at this film. It uses cynicism and a more worldly approach to it's storytelling when compared to Pixar's offering, which was more of an Americanized approach.
Gene Hackman as Mandible is exactly the kind of villain I wanted Shan-Yu to be in Mulan. He's efficient and threatening but also cool and calculated. He will lose his temper, but plays the part of both the diplomat and the war lord really well.
And while he may be out of place in this movie, I just have to comment on how freaking awesome Christopher Walken is in this film. His character doesn't really do much except switch sides by the end, but since it's Christopher F***ING Walken, I'll give him a thumbs up in anything he's in.
I also like the animation in this a bit better than in A Bug's Life. It's more realistic and gritty and it makes me feel like I'm actually in an ant colony. While I did like the colors of the world in A Bug's Life, I just feel that it didn't make this world believable enough. It felt like a bug movie taking place in a Pixar world, rather than a bug movie taking place in a human world.
Overall: Aside from it's clunks, this film is still pretty damn impressive. And unlike other future DreamWorks films, this seems to take more risks and exploit more of an adult appeal with not just the jokes but the story and themes too. It wasn't just about fart jokes and using swear words, but also about appealing to adults as well as children. Good start, DreamWorks, but you're not there just yet. You're going to need and EXTRA good film to impress me...and BY GOD do they have one coming up next...
Final Grade: 89 or B+
Next Review: The Prince of Egypt
Then: The Road to El Dorado
Later: Chicken Run
Finally: Joseph: King of Dreams
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