The results are pretty good. While Antz is not the great film that Toy Story was, it is thoroughly enjoyable. The animation is satisfying, the characters are amusing, there are many funny moments, and even some suspense.
The story begins with worker ant Z-4195 (Allen) questioning his role in the ant universe. Seemingly fated to a life of mundane toil, his only friends are hulking soldier ant Weaver (Stallone) and lady co-worker Azteca (Lopez). Z falls for Princess Bala (Stone), who is the daughter of the queen (Bancroft).
In an attempt to meet Bala, Z cons Weaver into trading places. The ants declare war on a neighbor termite colony, and Z is forced into battle. At least he makes a new friend in Barbatus (Glover). The war with the termites is part of an evil plan by general Mandible (Hackman) to wipe out the colony. Mandible's right-hand man (or is it, right-legged ant?) is brooding Cutter (Walken).
The best supporting characters are a snobbish wasp couple (Aykroyd and Curtin). They provide entertaining comic relief, but unfortunately do not see much screen time. The characters of Z and Weaver are very familiar to fans of Allen and Stallone, and when the action slows, it is fun to look for the actors' personalities in their dialogue.
The animation, although very good, is not quite up to the level of Toy Story. The backgrounds become redundant in color and texture, but the foreground action is well done.
The great weakness to the story is Mandible's genocidal plans. If he wants to abduct Bala and begin a new colony, he can do it without destroying the existing colony. One philosophical question that Antz doesn't address: does every movie needs a villain?
Woody Allen has since become a victim of cancel culture, or perhaps it is just that his films stopped being of interest. Either way, his effort as a voice actor here should be judged on its own merits.
How others will see it. Antz was a commercial success despite its generous budget, with a worldwide gross of 170M. At imdb.com, it has a big 163K user votes and a respectable user rating of 6.5 out of 10. The user reviews are predominantly positive except from folks concerned that children will watch this gallows humor PG-rated film and suffer a lifelong warped mind thereafter.