I've seen this movie alone and with my kids several times, ages 8 and 5. The last time we watched it I caught several bad words and a couple of innuendos. I've decided to shelve it until they are older. My oldest realized the language and gave us the "did you hear that" look.
Antz
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Woody Allen plays a computer-animated ant.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 7 and Up
What to watch out for
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Violence & scariness:
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Sexy stuff:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Antz was written by Nell Minow
Parents need to know that the characters in this movie have little kid appeal, and the violence, including the deaths of two characters and the slaughter of thousands of animated "extras," is much too intense for younger children.
Families Can Talk About
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- Families can talk about when to question authority, how to balance individuality with community norms, and how what seems like garbage to us may be "Insectopia" from another perspective.
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More on Antz
What’s the Story?
In ANTZ, Woody Allen provides the voice of Z, the movie's hero, and we first see him on the analyst's couch, complaining about his feelings of inadequacy. A worker ant among millions of others, he longs for some individuality. When he meets the ant princess Bala (voice of Sharon Stone), he longs to see her again. So he persuades his friend Weaver (voice of Sylvester Stallone), a soldier ant, to switch places with him. Weaver enjoys being a worker, but Z finds to his horror that he is being sent into battle by the megalomaniacal General Mandible (voice of Gene Hackman). He is befriended by Barbados (voice of Danny Glover), who is killed, along with all of the other soldiers. Only Z escapes, and it is up to him to rescue the rest of the ant colony from Mandible.
Is It Any Good?
The technological mastery and all-star cast all but obscure the one real problem of this movie -- it does not know who its audience is. The computer animation suggests that it's for kids (like Toy Story, which focused on themes that touched both children and adults). But the focus of Antz is its astonishing visual effects and outstanding voice performances by some of Hollywood's top stars. The theme of individual spirit in a world of conformity is just an afterthought, and a muddled one at that.
The witty script aims its humor at adults who can appreciate the in-jokes, the characters have little kid appeal, and the violence, including the deaths of two characters and the slaughter of thousands of animated "extras," is much too intense for younger children. Yet the visual effects are dazzling, and the movie also provides a welcome reminder that performers as inextricably linked to their appearance as Allen, Stallone, and Stone are capable of superb vocal characterization.
Movie Details
Studio: Dreamworks SKG, Directors: Eric Darnell, Lawrence Guterman, Tim Johnson
Run time: 84 minutes
Theatrical release: 10/02/1998, DVD release: 11/19/2002
MPAA Rating: PG for tension, cartoon violence, and some language
Run time: 84 minutes
Theatrical release: 10/02/1998, DVD release: 11/19/2002
MPAA Rating: PG for tension, cartoon violence, and some language
Our Members Say
See all 9 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- My highlights are:
Good for older kids, not for elementary school aged.
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I rate this title iffy for age 7 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- My highlights are:
- Good role models
Don't know what they mean by no sexy stuff, there are quite a few scenes of flirting in this poor quality animation. Only really starts to get going when they get outside into the human world, and even then it's dreary. Not to mention the freaky termite battle.
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I rate this title on for age 8 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate language
This movie introduced me to the
"h-e-double hockey sticks word." I hadn't heard this word up until "Antz," and I think I said it in a drive-thru w/ my uncle and he got very mad. Warn your kids about this movie, it may look innocent, but it's more of a hardcore "A Bug's Life."
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I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
COMPLETELY disagree with the 8+ rating - this is a Big Kid movie
We previewed this movie in hopes we could show it to our 6 year old and 8 year old who are entranced by their ant farm these days. SO glad we previewed it. SUre, it's just animated, but it's still graphically violent - screen-for-screen shots of battle scenes depicted in countless rated-R movies. The guts were green instead of red, but does that make this violence ok? There's serious deception, political issues (trying to take over the colony through murder), really bad language (we backed up in SEVERAL places to make sure we were hearing what we THOUGHT we'd heard first time through). Why do movie makers have to ruin films this way? Not only won't I recommend it for children - there's nothing redeeming in this film for any age.
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I rate this title on for age 0 and give it
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I rate this title on for age 0 and give it
funny and highly entertaining film!!
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I rate this title pause for age 0 and give it
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I rate this title on for age 0 and give it
good movie
a good movie have a few miled words and some vilence (burning ants with a magnifing glass)
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I rate this title pause for age 0 and give it
The language in this movie REALLY surprised me
There are a lot of things in this movie that make me shocked that it is a cartoon. The worst is the language. Everything from Dam*, Cra*, He**, I believe they say A** too. It just blew me away. Then the movie itself: Kidnapping, War (ok it's a bug war but the violence is still there), Fighting in general (there are I believe 2 fistfights one where a male ant hits a female ant), Oh yeah and of course the whole main idea of the movie which is the big bad army ant attempting or murder everyone in the entire colony that he doesn't think is WORTHWHILE. It's pretty much a cartoon version of Hitler. I literally threw this movie out. I DO NOT reccomend it to any child under 13.
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Ratings at a Glance
| 100% | of parents say it gives kids positive messages |
| 100% | of parents say it has language their kids can't use |
| 100% | of parents say the sexual behavior isn't age appropriate |
| 100% | of parents say it's too violent |
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