Antz

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

This is the kind of Woody Allen comedy Woody Allen no longer makes, the story of Z (voiced by the master himself), a timid, neurotically oppressed, sexually obsessed, glumly funny urban male who somehow stumbles his way to conditional happiness. That his urb happens to be an ant colony, his beloved (Sharon Stone) its overindulged princess and his nemesis (Gene Hackman) a fascist general mounting a coup adds a nice weird touch to the tale, as does the dark-toned computer animation. Kids may be puzzled by rebellious worker ants chanting Marxist slogans, but their parental guides may welcome the relief from the prevailing blandness of family films.

--By Richard Schickel