DreamWorks SKG has been conspicuously hit free in it short career as a
movie production house, despite the tripartite clout of Spielberg,
Katzenberg and Geffen. Producers of flops such as The Peacemaker (why
do people keep hiring George Clooney?), DreamWorks has two movies coming out which look set to change this trend: Spielberg's pet opus Saving
Private Ryan, starring both Tom Hanks and current hot thang Matt Damon,
and the snappy, slick Antz.
Everyone must have seen the ads for Antz by now - slippery computer
generated little creatures with ET like faces and a sharp trade in
snappy dialogue. Woody Allen stars as 'Z', a worker ant who wants more
from life than a life of drudgery. Opening with Z reciting a list of
complaints on a psychiatrist ant's couch, a la every Woody Allen film
known to man, it is pretty clear that this film is going to be cute for
the kiddies and cynical for the adults. And indeed, the script is very
funny and provocative - I don't recall ever hearing the word 'anus' used
in a Disney film, for example.
The story is pretty standard adventure fare. Z the unlikely hero meets
beautiful Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) in a bar, Z joins army to meet
Bala again after class divisions ensure they'll never meet, Z gets
caught in a war, comes back a real hero, evil general tries to have him
bumped off... Etc etc. Your usual insectoid action thriller slash
romantic comedy. With characters voiced by a cast including Gene
Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, Anne Bancroft and Salma Hayek, as well as
Woody and Shazza, Antz is the ensemble film of the year.
The graphics are beautiful, unfortunately endowed with that computer
generated plastic sheen which no amount of expensive technology can seem
to remove. The colours range from brown to pastel, so it's not the most
exciting palette in the world, but the animation is first class - until
of course, the next first class animation technique comes along.
(Possibly with Disney's rival A Bug's Life, slated for a November
release.)
Indeed this is probably the problem with Antz - it's an old plot with a
new coat, and sweet, endearing and funny as it is, I wonder how long
moviegoers are going to pay for what boils down to sugar coated
technical brilliance. Still, an enjoyable ride and a surprisingly smart
film.
peter plunkett
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