movie review - Antz
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
This is an animated movie about an ant who wants to free his colony from the repression of its own social order. Man, I feel like I just wrote this review, but that was A Bug's Life, the unfortunate twin of this that we saw just a couple of days ago. I sometimes wonder what the heck is the point of all this movie going.
Anyway, our hero ventures out in the world not in hopes of finding outside help but rather because after becoming the sole survivor of a terrible and unnecessary battle with termites, he is outed as a worker who took a warrior's place and then through a cowardly miscalculation "kidnaps the princess" to escape. In a story that unfolds in a more purposeful fashion than its clone, our hero is thereafter accompanied by the princess (a character which serves as a partner in both films) and instead of looking for help he looks for a far-off paradise. By the end, he's developed into the heroic character the colony needs and manages to save it.
One of the things I liked about this largely paint-by-numbers affair was the heel-face turn by the second-in-command among the colony's warrior caste. Played beautifully by Christopher Walken - who as always, seems to be having the time of his life - he spends most of the movie terrorizing everyone and delivering some good lines to perfection. But when he realizes fully the magnitude of his boss's error he makes a correct decision on the spot and changes everything. He's that sinister lieutenant whose change of heart saves the day. Love it! It's almost enough to overlook that this thing stars Woody Allen.
The animation in this thing is stiff and weird but the story carries it well enough.
Recommended.