Review of Antz (1998) by Cj W — 31 Oct 2013

Antz is one of the greatest animated films of all time, even though the concept was kind of stolen from A Bug's Life, this film executes the message in a much more intellectual and artistically engaging way.

A Bug's Life relies mostly on its visuals to captivate you, Antz has a much more thought provoking screenplay, and more witty jokes. However, the humor is definitely in the Woody Allen vein, and most commercial audiences nowadays do not appreciate his brand of humor, which is why most of his films are now independent.

And the visuals may not be as strikingly convincing as A Bug's Life, but they are more creative at displaying this socialist ant colony, and its hard at work inhabitants. Where this film really strikes gold though, is in its screenplay, which deals with much more themes than A Bug's Life, themes like identity, power, oppression, alienation, manipulation, and the dangers of propaganda.

It is also, somewhat of an epistemological study of where we find the meaning in our lives. This is an animated film, like Wall-E, that I have no idea if it will appeal to children, but looking at it from an artistically appreciative perspective, it is hard not to be awed by it's engaging dialogue, beautiful screenplay, and its ability to make you root for Z.

I definitely recommend a viewing of this film.