Hey folks here we go...
Guy Incognito here with my final scoop from the 1998 Toronto Film
Festival. This one's a doozie 'cause I happened to score some tickets to the
World Premiere of "Antz" which also happened to be the closing film of the
festival. Included in the price of admission (a hefty $165) was an
invitation to the party afterwards thrown by Dreamworks. More on that later.
First, me and my buddies snag a seat and we leave our jackets so we
can pop out for a quick smoke before the movie starts. On our way to the
balcony, we have to cross the red carpet area where the stars make their
entrance but the security guard holds us back and says we have to wait 'til
everyone's made their entrance. Now Christopher Walken's gotta be one of my
favourite actors and when he walked in the door, right past me I was
speechless, too in awe of his coolness to say anything. Nobody really
expected him to be there, I guess, I don't think he goes to a lot of these
things. He rushed through the press line, I dunno if he really spoke to
anybody. Next through the door was Jennifer Lopez (even hotter in real
life), Danny Glover, Jeffery Katzenberg from Dreamworks and the directors of
the movie, Jane Curtin and Dan Ackroyd. The person that REALLY made an
impact on me was Gene Hackman. As all the other stars made their way through
the doors into the theatre, he stayed outside for what must've been about
15-20 minutes shaking hands, signing autographs, doing interviews and
generally being very gracious and personable. Even when he entered the
theatre, he STILL stopped to shake people's hands and sign autographs, what
a guy! When all the stars had passed, the security let us through, but my
friend and I took the wrong path and ended up walking up the sectioned-off
carpeted area where all the stars are led into the theatre. There were
hundreds of people there with cameras waiting for their favourite movie
idols and they were giving us this "Who the hell are these guys?" look. By
this time it began to dawn on me that something was wrong and when some guy
yelled, "You've gotta do a MOVIE first to walk there man!" everything became
clear. It was an honest mistake so I turned beet-red and made my way back
down the carpet (beer in hand) and took the CORRECT route this time. People
must've thought I was some party crasher 'cause we were getting some DIRTY
looks from people I tells ya. Hey, water under the bridge. Sorry for
rambling. ANYWAYS, things get underway and the directors come out thanking
everyone for showing and then they had the stars come out on stage one by
one. Walken got the most applause by far with Gene Hackman and Danny Glover
close behind. Then the movie began.
Wow. I'd been impressed by the stills I'd seen of this film but I
really hadn't seen much else until last night so I was totally blown away.
"Antz" is a REALLY entertaining movie. Basically, Woody Allen's character,
Z, is sick of being part of a colony where everyone is expected to do what
is asked of them without question. He hates being a worker ant and dreams of
finding the legendary "Insectopia" where he can be his own person (or ant in
this case) instead of a number. Sharon Stone's character, Princess Bala, is
also sick of her life. She's the Queen's daughter, destined to pop out
babies one every ten seconds and marry Gene Hackman's character, the evil
General Mandible who has plans of his own for the future of the colony.
While slumming it one night in a bar, Bala hooks up with Z and when he
switches places with his soldier pal, Weaver (Sylvester Stallone) in order
to see the princess again, things start to get crazy. The story is really
well done and the voice talent is excellent. It's funny, 'cause although you
know who's voicing certain characters and the personalities of the actor and
CG equivalent are similar (Stallone as the burly guy, Walken as the bad guy,
etc.) the characters really get a chance to stand on their own and they're
not overshadowed by the major voice talent behind them. Woody Allen is great
and the role seems to have been written for him. Nobody does the neurotic,
insecure guy like him and it was great to see him as an ant 'cause they had
some really great lines for him, "I was the middle child of 5 million.",
"Some days, I just can't lift any more than 10 times my own." weight." which
got a great audience reaction. The thing that REALLY blew my mind was the
CG. Visually, this movie is LIGHTYEARS beyond Toy Story. I'm a CG animator
by trade so I know how difficult some stuff is to do and PDI's work just
rocked the house. Every frame of this film was gorgeous enough to take home
and frame and while Toy Story had some rough spots (like that awful-looking
dog and the humans), Antz was virtually flawless.The animation was as
impressive or even moreso than Toy Story and the movie was more adult
oriented so it had a cool "edge" to it that I loved (even had some language
that would make Uncle Walt blush). The closing shot of the film is genius. I
won't spoil it but not only was it amazing from a technical standpoint, but
it also made a very cool statement. In all honesty, I can't see how someone
couldn't like this movie. It's great looking, it's really fun, it's
hilarious at times, it's smart, it's exciting and it's short and sweet (77
minutes). And hey, no cheezy Randy Newman songs!!!! Full marks for "Antz"
and to everyone behind it. The most kudos go out to Pacific Data Images,
you're work was FABULOUS guys!!!!! Man, with Prince of Egypt coming out
soon, Dreamworks is REALLY proving that Disney ain't the only guys who can
do animation in town, they're definitely a force to be reckoned with now and
I can't wait to see their next animated feature. All I gotta say is even
though the look is totally different and it's geared towards different
audiences,"A Bug's Life" better be damned good, for their sake.
After the movie, everyone went next door for a huge party sponsered
by Dreamworks. Didn't see any of the stars there, but someone claimed to
have seen Harvy Keitel and I saw the lady who played the machine gun
weilding little person, Thumbelina, in Total Recall. TOO COOL! After the
party, one of the employees was taking down these amazing "Antz" banners
and when we asked if we could have them, he said we could take the ones on
the other side of the huge tent. My friend climbed into the scaffolding and
cut them down and as we were walking out, some guy stopped us and said that
they had to go back to the production office and that the other guy had no
authority to give them away. DAMN! Anyways, out of spite, as I was leaving I
managed to take a huge cardboard box filled with unused plastic cups.
WOOHOOOO!! All in all, a great night (albeit pricey) but I managed to get my
moneys worth in free booze.... and plastic cups. Another great year for the
Toronto Film Festival!
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