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Antz

Reviewer Roundup 1.  Susan Granger review follows 2.  MrBrown read the review 3.  Harvey Karten read the review --- 4.  Walter Frith read the review 5.  AlexI read the review

"Antz" is only the second fully computer-animated feature ever to be produced; "Toy Story" was the first. And the clever imagery of "Antz" is awesome! The entire film is presented from an ant's prospective. The story revolves around a neurotic worker ant (Woody Allen) who as "the middle child in a family of five million" suffers from feelings of insignificance. "But you are insignificant," his therapist tells him. Nevertheless, he falls in love with a beautiful princess (Sharon Stone) who asks him to dance in a bar one night when she sneaks away from the Queen (Anne Bancroft) and flaunts the social caste system. Eager to see her again, he enlists the help of his best friend, a soldier ant (Sylvester Stallone), and - thanks to an amazing twist of fate - foils her fiance, the ambitious, maniacal General Mandible (Gene Hackman), and his military henchman (Christopher Walken) who secretly plan to destroy the ant colony. En route to becoming a hero, he builds a philosophical revolution and social rebellion on the final words of a fallen comrade: "Don't follow orders all your life!" The intelligent screenplay by Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz revolves around an individual asserting himself against overwhelming conformity, a theme that will probably be too adult for very young children in the audience. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Antz" is an amusing, inventive 8. Like "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," which had the same meteor-careening towards-earth concept, "Antz" and "A Bug's Life," due for release in a few weeks, share the same insect-oriented story line. Which will emerge with the bigger box-office gross? Who knows?

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