Antz

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Pure fun.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Sophisticated, funny, and joyously subversive animated bug epic.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A charmer, complete with cute critters voiced by the ultrafamous.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A dazzling delight.

New York Magazine David Denby

Antz, with its deadpan witticisms, its heart-stopping shifts of perspective, is completely entertaining, a kids' movie that will leave grown-ups quoting the best lines to one another.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's sharp and funny--not a children's movie, but one of those hybrids that works on different levels for different ages.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Visually, it's more impressive than Disney's “Toy Story.”

New York Daily News David Kehr

A bug-eyed marvel. [2 October 1998, p. 56]

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Sorry, stinging fire ants couldn't make me reveal the outcome of this witty and, yes, surprisingly suspenseful adventure.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Matching their superbly expressive computer-generated counterparts, the actors are all enjoyably hammy, but the real star of Antz is the art direction, a marvel of teeming detail wittier and more sophisticated than the script.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Refreshingly naughty and nice.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This witty, star-packed and visually splendid kids' movie provides a small-is-beautiful message served on a parodoxically epic scale.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

A humongous animation event that ratchets up the level of the computer art that Hollywood is swooning over these days.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

That's not to say the entertaining Antz" was made by Woody, just that it's full of his personality.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Think "Animal Farm" redone as Ant Farm. [2 October 1998, p. 11E]

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The latest showpiece for computer animation, with all the contoured, suspiciously gleaming perfection that this entails.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The story is well-told, but so familiar that it renders the surrounding film a bright, shiny, dispensible bauble, an amusing diversion but not much more.

Time Richard Schickel

Kids may be puzzled by rebellious worker ants chanting Marxist slogans, but their parental guides may welcome the relief from the prevailing blandness of family films. [Oct 12, 1998 v152 n15 p116]

Salon.com Janelle Brown

Katzenberg may or may not have stolen his idea from Pixar, but it's obvious in the film that he spent significant time at Disney. The plot of Antz is pure Disney pastiche:

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Antz works best just showing off its prodigious voice talent.

Film Threat Chris Gore

Succeeds at pushing the technology as well as and offering intelligent family fare that won't leave adults bored. Great fun.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Adults also are more likely than kids to snicker at jokes.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Sorry, Antz has no show-stopping song and dance numbers, no catchy melodies and no love songs either. The score, made up of old standards, does, however, enhance one of the movie's wittier episodes.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Brief enough, clocking in at 83 minutes, but its story is too predictable to make an impact even in such a short space. Unlike "Toy Story," the dialogue here, written by Todd Alcott and Chris & Paul Weitz, is pro forma all the way.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I suspect an account of all the complex business transactions would be more fun than anything in the movie, where you can't see a blue sky that isn't made up to resemble the Dreamworks logo.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Without a doubt, the animation is vibrant and electrifying; it's only the story that lacks.