‘Animals United’ feels like a horrible ‘Madagascar’ film
Animals United is less a film and more of an exercise in patience. The German animated movie, re-dubbed into English for American audiences and now available on DVD, has so many animal characters that not one of them proves memorable. There’s no real plot. There are few jokes. The animation is shoddy. Nothing seems to work.
Adults will snooze, while children may enjoy themselves. Despite its numerous faults, Animals United can probably hold a young person’s attention for 93 minutes. But there’s far better entertainment in the marketplace; just rent a Pixar film and you’ll have a cinematic experience 10 times more engaging than this dud.
Here’s how the story goes: The animals of the world are facing the difficulties of an increasingly warm planet. A polar bear can’t find its footing on a floating ice cube. A lion looks for water in the savanna of Africa. A kangaroo swelters in the sun of Australia. Somehow all of these animals, plus a whole lot more, meet up in Africa to stop the building of a luxury resort. Apparently the hotel complex is holding back water for vacationers. How the global warming introduction and the resort storyline are connected is never made clear. How all of these animals are able to magically travel to Africa is even more obscure.
It’s almost as if the writers grew tired of the global warming thread and began a whole new plot halfway through the film.
The voice talents of the cast, including Jim Broadbent and recent Tony winner James Corden, are typical and never standout. This monotony among the voice actors causes no differentiation among the characters. Just when the audience begins to gravitate toward one character, another three animals enter the picture and steal the spotlight. Say what you will about the Madagascar films (and there’s a lot to gripe about), much of the action in those movies is centered around a central crew of characters. In Animals United, the creative team believes more is better, but their results border on atrocious.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
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Animals United
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2010
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Directed by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe
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Written by Klooss, Oliver Huzly, Klaus Richter and Sven Severin; based on the book by Erich Kästner
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Starring the voice talents of Billy Beach, Jim Broadbent, James Corden and Nicola Devico Mamone
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Running time: 93 minutes
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Not Rated
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Rating:
