This is not my usual formal review; more my impressions of the film in the wake of my recent "Antz" review. I also realize that my opinion on this film will be unpopular; however, my approach is from the viewpoint of a long-time fan of animation aimed at a more adult audience (and I am one who has loved all of Pixar's other output).

This film features wonderful animation from the Pixar folks; visually stunning with a great cast of supplemental characters. My problem was that the major characters (Flik and most of the ant crew, as well as the bad guys) were standard cookie-cutter Disney characters. Take out the nifty computer animation and the circus bugs, and you have another "Lion King" or "Hercules," complete with whiny hero who needs to accept himself in order to save the day.

This seems to be the common stock of which Disney movies have been made lately, and it's getting stale. I'm not sure how much input parent company Disney had on Pixar, but you'd be hard pressed not to imagine some of the Mouse's writers getting in on the action. Obviously, this film was aimed at a younger audience, but I think that kids are capable of understanding more intelligent storylines than film studios usually give them credit for.

Don't get me wrong, though. If you can sit through the bits of cheese, you have a film that's made of moments, many of them outright hilarious. The playful approach so often seen in previous Pixar efforts is in abundance here. And certainly the kids will love it.

Favorite characters: the German caterpillar guy, and the two "Cossack" junebugs. The score by Randy Newman was good, if very similar to his work on "Toy Story".

It's worth watching just to see what they're doing with computers these days, but even after that, there are tons of good things about the film. better visuals than "Toy Story" and the "out-take" footage was hilarious. but c'mon, Disney -- I understand if your plots are paper-thin, but come up with a new "protagonist" instead of recycling the same-old same-old.

Michaels' five-point rating: 3.5/5




Recommended: No