1998 was a good year for insects. Pixar released A Bug's Life, while DreamWorks came out with Antz, the story of an ant that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his colony. While A Bug's Life might have done a little better at the box office, Antz stands toe to toe with it in of quality (they each have a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score).
Antz is quite quotable too. Z (Woody Allen), Weaver (Sylvester Stallone), Princess Bala (Sharon Stone), and the rest of the main characters blend humor with depth in order to make this movie a multi-layered hit. Here are the 10 best quotes from DreamWorks's Antz.
"Don't worry, I know almost exactly what I'm doing!"- Z
Z, the hero, isn't the biggest, toughest, or smartest of ants. But he's still willing to do what he can to help those in need, in this case, his entire colony. This quote encapsulates the protagonist's willingness to try to do the right thing, even if he's not exactly sure how to accomplish that goal.
This is the kind of hero audiences love rooting for, and it is part of the reason this film is so good.
"Sure, why should I be unhappy being a piece of construction equipment?"- Z
Z approaches his life as a worker ant with the same mentality a human would; he doesn't understand why this is his calling. The rest of the ants seem to intrinsically understand that serving their queen and helping expand and fortify their kingdom is all they are meant to do, but not Z.
He believes that there just has to be more than life than being a worker ant, and this quote equating himself to construction equipment reveals that belief.
"Will you please calm down? You're not going to let a little near-death experience ruin your mood, are you?"- Z
Z and Princess Bala are almost burnt alive under a magnifying glass, the classic ant murder weapon. Luckily, they escape. That harrowing experience should probably be a mood-killer, though, especially when a princess-like Bala has never been in any sort of danger in her life.
But Z is in love with her, so he doesn't want some little magnifying glass ordeal to ruin a little one-on-one time with the beautiful princess.
"Who's the bigger idiot"- Z
In the same scene following Z and Princess Bala's magnifying glass escape, the princess is decidedly over her captor's schtick. She exclaims that she has been "kidnapped by the village idiot," which Z responds to with this gem of a quote.
He does have a point here, you have to give him that. Perhaps Princess Bala is an even bigger idiot than he is. (Probably not)
"Labor? What do you know about labor? How would you feel if you were expected to give birth every 10 seconds for the rest of your life?"- Princess Bala
Everybody has their own issues. Z's life might not seem as grand as Princess Bala's, who lives luxuriously in a palace, yet this quote shows how even someone in her position can have a tough time.
She does not understand the labor that Z has to go through as a worker ant, but Z definitely does not understand the pressure that comes with maintaining the population of an entire colony of ants, which happens by giving birth...a lot.
"When you're the middle child in a family of five million, you don't get any attention."- Z
Antz begins with Z in therapy, talking to someone about the issues he's having in his life. He attributes many of his problems to his upbringing, which he describes as "very anxious."
His mother never paid attention to him, and how could she? She has five million other children to tend to and he is clearly the awkward middle child. Such is the life of an ant. They do not tend to have nurturing upbringings.
"You da ant!"- Weaver
Weaver, Z's hulking best friend, is always there for Z. Z's plan to build an ant ladder to escape a flood works, while also vanquishing the film's antagonist in the process, General Mandible.
These are ants, so the phrase "you da man" would not have worked here. Weaver, after Z's triumph, embraces his buddy and delivers this quote. At that moment, Z definitely was "da ant."
"Now you can see how dangerous individualism can be. It makes us vulnerable."- General Mandible
General Mandible's philosophy is the antithesis of Z's, who yearns for individualism. Individual ants do not matter in General Mandible's world; all that matters is the survival of the colony as a whole, which takes the collective effort of all of the ants.
In his mind, ants thinking for themselves threatens everything they have built. He tries to squash this type of mindset immediately, for the only way ants can be useful is if they do their job without asking questions.
"It's even worse. They're Eurotrash!"- Chip
This is one of the funnier lines in Antz. Z and Princess Bala ask two wasps for help, as they can't seem to get to the food in Insectopia. The wasps are elitists who look down upon the "crawling insects," literally and figuratively.
When they find out that Bala is a princess, they determine that these two ants are not just trash, but Eurotrash. Yuck. To be fair, Chip and Muffy do elect to help out the two foreigners, though their good deeds are interrupted by an enormous human foot stomping through Insectopia.
"Don't make my mistake, kid. Don't follow orders your whole life. Think for yourself."- Barbatus
These were Barbatus's final words after a gruesome battle against the termites. Z already believed these things, but Barbatus's message gave him the assurance he needed to live his life as an individual, not as a worker whose only purpose was contributing to the welfare and survival of the colony.
Barbatus was a seasoned warrior who readily gave his life for his colony, yet even he knew that there was a better way to live.
