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Early on in "Antz", we see a lowly worker ant, Z-4195 (voiced by Allen), reclining on a therapist's leaf lamenting his drudgery-filled existence, "You know, when you're the middle child in a family of five million, you don't get any attention." Later on, when Z unwittingly becomes a soldier and hero, praised for laughing in the face of Death, he quickly interjects, "Actually I stand behind Death and make belittling comments at its back."
Such wickedly amusing dialogue, uttered by cinema's greatest neurotic, was proof enough that Dreamworks was going to take a different approach to animation than dominant studio Disney's long-successful but tiring formula of cute animals and songs.
In the movie, bored Z has a chance encounter with Princess Bala (Stone) who leads him to impetuously switch positions with soldier friend (Stallone) and become embroiled in an evil general's plan to invoke a suicidal war against the termites. The result is hilarious stuff, superbly achieving that elusive goal of being entertaining kids fare and having a lot to offer the adults.
The film is exquisitely and knowingly cast with Stallone's big-lug action man, Walken's fearsome lieutenant and, of course, Allen's reluctant hero. Dreamworks have also been brave enough to insert some political comment - Z sows the seeds of individualism in his staunchly totalitarian world.
There are some superb set-pieces, including a messy "Starship Troopers"-like battle and the vast and threatening world of life outside the ant colony when Z and Bala are trapped in bubble gum on the underside of a child's shoe. Their journey to the fabled Insectopia is utterly thrilling and easily matches "Toy Story" 's inspirational wit.
"A Bug's Life" may have won the battle for animation supremacy that summer, but the ingenious and satirical "Antz" was turning the tide in the war.
