Every once in a while, multiple studios end up putting out very similar movies at the same time. This isn’t always the result of plagiarism or chasing trends; with years-long production processes, sometimes an idea takes hold in more than one place.ArmageddonandDeep Impact.The PrestigeandThe Illusionist. Dante’s PeakandVolcano.These movies become entwined in the public imagination, regardless of how different they may be.
One such situation happened in 1998, when two computer-animated films featuring an insect cast were released just one month apart. One of them, Pixar’sA Bug’s Life,has gone on to be considered a classic. The other, DreamWorks’Antz,maybe not so much. But whileAntzhas been forever relegated toA Bug’s Life’sshadow, it’s still a worthwhile movie despite its proximity. At the very least, Pixar is probably pretty happy about how it turned out.
The Surprisingly Dramatic Origins of ‘Antz’
Antzbegan life a decade before its release as a pitch at Walt Disney Studios for a movie calledArmy Ants,under the purview of then-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg.After leaving Disney in a bitter feud and co-founding DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, Katzenberg brought some of his in-development projects with him,includingThe Prince of Egyptand an ant-centric concept. Pixar’s then-heads, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs (yes, that Steve Jobs), had their own ant project in the works, and were none too pleased to learn that DreamWorks had a similar idea.
This led to another bitter feud for Katzenberg, this time between him and Lasseter and Jobs, who accused DreamWorks of stealing the concept. Katzenberg offered them a deal: delay the release ofA Bug’s Lifeto avoid competing withThe Prince of Egypt,and DreamWorks would delayAntz.Pixar refused, prompting Katzenberg to do whatever was necessary to getAntzin theaters first. The film did beatA Bug’s Lifeto the finish line by one month, leading Pixar to worryAntzhad stolen their thunder.
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Really, they needn’t have worried, asA Bug’s Lifeended up blowingAntzout of the water at the box office, earning nearly twice as much overall. In the years that followed,A Bug’s Lifehas gone on to be considered a beloved, albeit minor, entry inPixar’s classic period, whileAntzis most often thought of as a knock-off, despite premiering first. And while it’s hard to compete with Pixar during their earliest, most fruitful era,Antzhas plenty of charms all its own that are quite a bit different from those ofA Bug’s Life.
Why ‘Antz’ Deserves To Be Remembered
It’s undeniable thatAntzandA Bug’s Lifehave some pretty striking similarities. They both center on an ant who feels out of place in the collective of the colony, a tentative romance with an ant princess, and a story that balances the need for community and individual expression. But beyond that, the films are very different in tone, style, and sense of humor.Antz,by and large, seems aimed more at the parents than the kids, tapping into a sort of existential crisis that greets most adults in their middle age.
Z (Woody Allen) is a worker ant who doesn’t fit in with his fellow drones. He’s not a good follower and doesn’t really want to spend his days breaking up dirt and moving it from one place to another.The colony emphasizes the importance of the collective and the insignificance of the individual, but Z can’t help but feel like there’s more to life. After a chance encounter with the colony’s Princess Bala (Sharon Stone) in the local watering hole, Z convinces his soldier ant buddy Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) to swap places with him in order to get closer to her. This sends him on a path away from the superorganism of the colony and inadvertently sparks an ant revolution.
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Z’s plight is likely familiar to many adults, particularly when they reach a certain age. It’s easy to feel like there is no free will, like we don’t have any other options besides going to work until we die, butthe film emphasizes that we do still have control over our own lives. It explores the dangers of both complete collectivism and extreme individualism, with General Mandible (Gene Hackman, making this a surpriseThe Quick and the Deadreunion) showing what can happen when someone becomes too convinced of their superiority.
A Bug’s Lifelooks outside the ant colony for its antagonists in the form of aggressive grasshoppers, butAntzkeeps the conflict in-house. There’s a bit of social satire, particularly when the worker ants briefly go on strike, until Mandible can placate them with promises of glory.It’s sometimes hard to see what kids would get out of it (other than some to see animated bugs), which is probably what kept it from becoming a hit on par with its rival, but also makes it surprisingly resonant with adults.
Antzmay never be able to escape its association withA Bug’s Life,but it’s a worthwhile movie in its own right with a stacked voice cast and some surprisingly mature ideas. In addition to Allen, Stone, Stallone, and Hackman, the film has vocal turns from Christopher Walken, Dan Aykroyd, Jennifer Lopez, and Danny Glover, among others.It would make for an interesting double feature with its unwilling sibling, if only to see how two different studios executed the same idea.
