When people say “Antz” is an animated movie for adults, they are telling the truth.

The movie already has an age advantage over typical animated movies in that the characters do not break out into annoying, can’t-get-out-of-my-head theme songs.

Older audiences will also appreciate the miracle of computer animation. Gone are the days of two-dimensional line drawings. The characters in “Antz” appear in realistic 3-D detail.

But most amazing are the movie’s unrealistic touches. Never before could an ant be trained to lie down on a psychiatrist’s couch. And a person dressed up to look like an ant would look pretty ridiculous.

It’s this mixture of the real and imaginary that makes computer animation such an incredible tool for storytelling.

“Antz” is the tale of a strange little digger ant named Z (Woody Allen) who is unhappy with his position within the ant colony. Ants are either designated as workers or soldiers at birth, and they can never change their jobs to do what they want to do.

The characters in the film are much like what people expect them to be. Millions of the insects live together in a hole in the ground, they dig numerous tunnels running in and out of the colony and each ant has its own job.

The ants are convinced their colony can’t succeed if individuals start thinking only for themselves. In other words, ants must work to help each other, not just to help themselves.

Z finally finds his chance to break the same-old routine when he meets the ant princess Bala (Sharon Stone) at the local ant bar. Bala also has a rebellious streak. She doesn’t look forward to marrying the nasty General Mandible (Gene Hackman) and pushing out babies every 10 seconds when her mother, the queen, is gone.

A devastating termite war turns into a window of opportunity for Bala and Z. The couple begins to search for the legendary Insectopia outside the colony, where ants can think for themselves and find all the food they care to eat.

In the meantime, General Mandible plans to start his own ant colony and to destroy every ant within the present colony.

However, Z’s departure causes the other ants to question whether they too should have more choices. Between these two groups with different interests, the entire ant colony is in upheaval.

While watching “Antz,” be sure to pay close attention to the voices because the celebrities behind the ants are surprising. Sylvester Stallone is one of the more memorable character voices in the movie. His character, Weaver, is an insect version of the all-American hero Rocky.

Although probably the last celebrity audiences would expect in an animated movie, Christopher Walken is another excellent voice-over.

He plays a semi-bad ant (of course), and his distinctive voice works well for the tough soldier ant Colonel Cutter.

Best of all is Allen’s role in “Antz.” He has a perfect voice for a bug with a squirmy, uneasy quality no one else could match.

Overall, “Antz” is great to watch if moviegoers are willing to let go of their doubts toward animated movies.

4 stars out of five

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Teresa Halvorsen is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Northwood.