A Look Back on Antz – Dreamworks' First Animated Film is Better Than We Realize

jacobtheawesome1

January 31

Before Shrek became the face for Dreamworks Animation, and changed the game in terms of animated family entertainment, there was a little film in 1998 that kickstarted the brand, and that movie was called "Antz". When people talk about this movie, it is usually brought up alongside A Bugs' Life, as both movies came out the same year, and had similar themes. But they could not be any more different. While A Bugs' Life appealed mostly to children and featured a whole slew of bugs in their fight against the grasshopper clan, Antz was more adult-centered and mostly dealt with a colony of ants as they tried to deal with the roles they have been given in their little society. In a way, both movies seem to have been forgotten about as both Pixar and Dreamworks have been filling their animation slate and trying to get families to come to their movies. I happened to see both movies with my parents in theaters, and while I ended up loving both movies, I mostly preferred A Bugs' Life due to its colorful and entertaining characters. While something felt off about Antz. If it wasn't its edgy darkness, or adult content, it was the uncanny facial features of the ants. Watching it again recently made me realize that it was a much better movie than I had given it credit for, and I could not help but want to write about it in the hopes that it would finally get the remembrance it deserves.