Father Geek here with my thoughts on Dreamworks' ANTZ which I saw tonight at an advanced screening here in Austin. As some of you may recall I was lucky enough to catch a private viewing of Pixar's BUG'S LIFE at the Chaplin room out in LA a couple of weeks ago. If you scroll back in time you can find my review of it then. I must say that I am glad I saw it first because I am afraid that if I had seen it after tonight's film I would not have felt as good about it. Its a good cartoon flick don't get me wrong, great colors and animation, a great kids film, but Antz is in a completely different league to me.

Antz is a real movie, maybe the first truly real, dramatic 100% digital motion picture. Antz matches the other one in animation and design, and it crosses into new territory in terms of drama and characterization. I found it intellectually stimulating as well as beautiful and fun. It was a real treat to not have stupid sidekicks and out of place humor. I found it to be a welcome breath of fresh air, a successful foray into animated storytelling that isn't dumbed down to appeal only to pre-schoolers.

Now our audience had about 100 rugrats in it, in fact a 7year old was in our Geek Headquarters crew of 10. He was asked during the closing credits which he liked better Antz or Toy Story, which he's seen many times, his response was "ANTZ!" The other children in attendance laughed at the funny parts and got worried at the tense moments. I got the distinct feeling that they "GOT" the film, that they didn't need to be talked down to, that today's more mature kids liked the drama, the action, and the more "grownup" dialogue. Of course Austin is a forward thinking intellectual community that is considered the #1 book market in the country, so maybe our kids aren't the same as the ones in your town, I certainly hope they are though. I really want this type of fantasy to sell, I want to see more of them. I'm tired of silly ill-placed songs that interrupt jarringly, breaking the magic spell in films like Mulan and The Hunchback. I want animation that holds kids spellbound and their parents too.

It was really great not having to put up with an annoying Parrot, or Gargoyle, or Dragon as a wise-cracking sidekick. I am so tired of those over used, over blown characters. I love animation, all kinds, stuff from the 30's to present, 2-D and 3-D, hand- drawn and computer. I have watched 1000's of hours of it, even those horrible Marvel cut- out efforts of the early 70's that I still have on tape. Tonight I was treated to something totally different and refreshing, an animated feature film that made me forget I was watching an animated movie, a drama that caught me up in its story and carried me away. When I was a young kid I saw a Disney nature film on the big screen down in San Antonio. Red ants and Black ants were at war, I hadn't thought of that in 40 years, tonight those warrior ants of my youth got names, personalities, goals and I'm grinning ear to ear because of it. <