Review of Antz: Collector`s Series

Video

The transfer of this disc is excellent, in fact despite the short running time of 83 minutes, there is still a layer change (well placed) due to the very high bitrate used in the encoding. Colours are nice and vibrant, contrast is great even in the dark scenes under the ant hill. Inside everything is cleverly hued, with browns and mauves used together with nice lighting effects. Once the action moves outside into the bright daylight, more vivid yellows and blues are the order of the day, and again everything is nicely balanced, this is a really good DvD to show off that high quality television in the corner. One slight minor niggle is it clearly has NOT been converted from a digital master, there is the odd noticeable nick and minor scratch in the title sequence that a quick eye will discover is from a film print, but don`t let that put you off it still is an amazing picture. On the subject of chapters, you get 26 to find your way through the movie, and they are well placed as you might expect.

This disc is anamorphic, so you will be hard pushed to find a better image on a DvD, just as well considering how big the average screen is becoming. If you own a projector then a number of scenes, such as the construction ball during the start of the movie and when Princess Bala becomes entangled in chewing gum on a trainer, will definitely show it off. Size does help when viewing this movie, although admittedly it isn`t essential for the enjoyment of it.

Audio

The soundtrack is fab, from the excellent orchestral introduction right through to the reworking of "Guantanamera" and "I Can See Clearly Now". If you own a subwoofer it will be put to good use and help your ears to appreciate the very deep but subtle bass in the title track, as well as giving you the large sense of scale everything seems compared to the ants themselves. Rear effects are mainly atmospheric, but definitely add a worthwhile extension to the soundfield. Large crowd scenes, especially the marching armies are all over the front and rear channels, engulfing you in the action. This has to be one of the best Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks out there, kind of like Godzilla but a lot more subtle and less over the top.

Features

From the moment you insert this disc into your player, you realise it is well crafted. The menus are all animated with cut sequences, and even the chapter selection has been nicely filled with miniature clips of the scenes. You get the usual production notes, trailer, bios and extended advert otherwise known as a featurette. On top of that, you also get some nice clips relating to the character design, development of the models, and an entire scene taken through various stages of development and finally compared with the original storyboard. There is also a very enjoyable commentary, with many a titbit hidden away inside, my favourite being an amusing mistake in the end sequence which you would be hard pressed to notice until pointed out, but after which becomes obvious.

Conclusion

This is a great disc, and a great film, I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone except young children. The story is great, and Woody Allen does an excellent job in the lead role alongside an also brilliant Sharon Stone. All the other actors that provided voices are class too, and the script has been cleverly crafted to appeal to both children and adults alike. In a similar way to Toy Story, everything works on various levels so don`t expect the majority of jokes to be aimed at the young-uns.

One thing I would point out is the dark content that fills some parts of this movie will be too scary for very young children. It is darker than Toy Story in places, and certainly a tad more violent, but if your kids had no problem with that film you should be fine here.

In any place other than Hollywood, it would be odd that two movies about ants, both computer generated, could be released within 6 months of each other. And I wouldn`t be human if I didn`t compare this disc to A Bugs Life, and had a preference for one or the other. Well, Antz I think is the better film, as it has a darker story and there is much more in there for grown ups. I also prefer the character animation, Antz for me is a much more visually appealing film, but then maybe I`m just being fussy as A Bugs Life is fun none the less.

To sum up then, this is one of those must have discs, excellent film, ace transfer, loads of features and an anamorphic print. Everything a good DvD should be.