The good: Bits of satire and a few characters that work well. The film has a good score, and achieves some dramatic and fun moments as well as a few visually impressive scenes. Probably will keep your kids entertained. But not you.
The bad: Disjointed plot tries to preach a bit too much. The English dub probably destroys what humor and wit there once was in the film. The voices often seem at odds with the character's expressions and movements, and like most European kid's movies, no option for watching it in the original language with subtitles is offered. Many stereotypical characters. Like way too many kid movies, it tries to surf on tried-and-true character and situation themes, leaving you with a sense of déja vu.
The Story.
A group of animals have lost their homes. A polar bear was displaced due to the ice floes melting, a pair of ancient Galapagos tortoises find their island slimed by an oil spill, a very French rooster escapes from a sadistic chef, and a kangaroo and flatulent Tasmanian devil must leave Australia because...um...motorcyclists burned the desert (I think.)
They end up in Africa later, where they meet the hero of the story (and thereafter become mostly irrelevant.)
The hero is a typical character--a meerkat who is kind of a screwball and slacker, and whose son thinks he's a loser. (Whopping cliché #1) His best friend is a lion who became a pacifist and vegetarian after a hunter shot his brother. So, anyway, one day they notice there's no more water in the water hole. Billy the Meerkat wanders off to find where it went, and discovers that the humans have built a dam so they can have a swimming pool at their resort hotel...where, coincidentally, a bunch of politicians are gathering for their 168th congress to discuss the climate and environment (without doing anything about it.)
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that by the end of the film, the animals all work together, the dam has been smashed, and they are aided by the token 'good' human, a little girl who 'Gets It.'
The film is hurt by the fact that there are way too many pointless or near-pointless characters. The polar bear hardly comes into the story. The Australian animals mainly fart and steal beer. (Or soda. It's clear-colored, but the cans are unmarked and the characters seem more like beer-drinkers!) The old tortoises mainly boringly tell each other how much they love each other, until they tell the other animals about all the destruction they've seen humans do in the past 700 years (admittedly a very powerful and dark scene) and then die to add a little pathos to the story. The rooster gets plenty of screen time, but frankly, he's SO annoying and stereotypical I could have done with less of him. There is an evil hunter who apparently only exists to shoot at animals with a nasty grin on his face.
On the other hand, Socrates the lion is quite likable. There is a chimp, who is clearly a wanna-be human, who I found to be quite the funniest character in the film. There are some visually impressive scenes, like the tortoise's story, the breaking dam, and the blue whale. And every now and then there will be a sequence that wakes you up and makes you feel like you are not completely wasting the time you spend watching Animals United.
But if you are looking for a gentle way to break your kids in to foreign films, PLEASE start them with something better. I can strongly recommend: A Fish Tale (AKA Help, I'm a Fish) (Swedish, I think), the Dragon Hunters movie (French), The Secret of Kells (Irish/Belgian), Spirited Away (or any other Miyazaki movie) (Japanese)
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Animals United is not just a bad film (If it can even be called that. Trash is a better word for it). It is a bad bad film. It is so atrociously, unbelievably bad my stomach churns within me as I write about it. As I watched it (not willingly of course) my gut heaved and roiled, my ears shriveled, and my eyes twitched in nervous spasms.I could tell my brain cells were committing suicide, one by one, as I watched this. So I left the room and screamed. I buried myself in Lawrence of Arabia for 4 hours.
Why this garbage is bad:
1. Awful animation. Really, it looks fake, computer generated, ugly, and at times disturbing. It's not just a disgrace to CGI, it's a disgrace to computers itself, to humanity, to the animal kingdom, to the bloody universe!
2. The story, portraying man as evil, disgusting beasts, and animals as the rulers of the world. Not appropriate for children.
3. The humor: crude, trite, tasteless, and shallow. Pass on this; it's not even worthy as toilet paper.
If you are a self-respecting human being, who loves their child, don't show this to them, don't buy it, don't even look at it. In fact, whenever you see a copy of this utter rubbish, spit on it. The world will be a better place without it. How a talented cast ever signed up to do this crap is beyond me. Maybe they were drugged or something.
So please, DON'T BUY THIS JUNK. Animals United gets ZERO stars.
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Terrible, the movie is nothing but a political statement about how humans are destroying the planet. I couldn't eve ln finish the movie.Honest reviews on Animals United
Wow! I started watching this about a 1/3rd of the way through. I won't even bother wasting my time to see the beginning as the middle and end are sooooo bad! As the poster wrote on another site: "....afraid of the obvious truth that is conveyed. Dams are extremely bad...", really?? I grew up around a dam in Washington. Let me tell you, if it held back ALL of the water like the one in the film does, it would soon overflow and be destroyed. How do you think hydroelectric power is generated?? by water flowing THROUGH the dam! I was impressed by the animation. Although I kept telling myself that they should have spent less on the animation, and more on better writers. The hatred towards all humans is evident, even by the humans! The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 17th session, however, in the movie, there's a line from a reporter with something like: "At this 167th conference on Global Warming, it looks like like the animals are taking humans to task for what we have done...". WOW! Can you feel the hate! in the movie, do they meet every week for the conference to get that high of a conference number? And did I mention all the animals traveled to NY in the belly of several whales?It makes my brain hurt to think about how very bad this movie is.
As for the ending: with the little girl happy about her father's career ruined, I want to see them in 10-15 years when they are begging in the streets, or their bleached bones are drying on the African plain!
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