Fun With a Message
Rating: 10 of 10 
There's something about 'Antz', something very special: Not only is it just the second computer animated motion picture, it is also a very intelligent and moving film: Animals have been a means of telling a story about humanity very often, and that's what 'Antz' is about. This is not a movie about ants, well, it is, but it is about human society as well. This, definitely, makes this movie much more than a usual animated movie.
At first, what I came to think of when I saw the ant tunnels presented in the movie, was a Star Trek Borg cube; no surprise then, for the Borg were originally concepted as being kind of an insect race. The colony, the collective, is an incredible force, an incredible institution: mass does matter, not size. But then, the comparison has to end here: A Borg collective doesn't know individuality (except for the Borg Queen of course) - so does the mass of ants, but in 'Antz', there's for sure individuality, although merely being performed at the top of the society, otherwise individuality is being suppressed.
The fascist-communist reign of the General is based upon lies and classification. The ants are pressed into a system which is told them to be natural, it is made clear to them that own thoughts and individuality are not supposed to occur. This insignificance of the individual is the most obvious sign of the ant colony, being illustrated by the General's decision to send his troops clearly into death when he orders them to conduct a preemptive strike against the termites. He doesn't care about them - they're just drones, why bother? But Z, the hero of the story, by using his individuality, can make a difference and save the ants from catastrophy. But his individuality can only work because of the commmunity's joint efforts to escape the threat - individuality
mustn't mean egotism. Each single person is significant and can make a difference. We are the colony.
November 17th, 1998
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