Rating summary
Movie | | 3.0 |
Video | | 4.5 |
Audio | | 4.5 |
Extras | | 0.0 |
Overall | | 3.5 |
Animals United Blu-ray Movie Review
A Meerkat Shall Lead Them
Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 20, 2012
Anyone who was annoyed at WALL-E's supposedly "anti-consumerist" message or Avatar's
"treehugger" subtext should really be offended by Animals United, a feature-length cartoon from German studio Constantin
Films. Loosely adapted from a 1949 children's book, The Animals' Conference, which dealt with nuclear disarmament, and released in
Germany under the title
Konferenz der Tiere, the film is a modern Aesop's fable that isn't shy about delivering an explicit attack on humanity's mistreatment of
Planet Earth—accompanied by the usual hijinks and
shenanigans that one expects when talking animals are the main characters. Directors Reinhard
Klooss and Holger Tappe were sufficiently confident in the film's appeal that they created both a
German version for domestic release and an English-language version for international
distribution. For the latter, they recruited an array of first-rate vocal talent, mostly British,
including Jim Broadbent, Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Fry, Andy Serkis and, in the lead role of
Billy the Meerkat, James Corden.
Even though Animals United did respectable box office abroad, it was never released in the
United States. Presumably, its distributors looked at the marketing data and concluded that the
the film's pro-ecology message wouldn't be well-received in a country that can't even agree on
whether human activity contributes to global warming (let alone whether global warming
represents a threat). The film has been released directly to video here by ARC Entertainment.
In sequences set all over the world, we see the damage to animals and their habitats caused by
human activity, while being introduced to the film's eclectic cast. As is typical of the genre, each
species retains a few generic traits, while the rest are anthropomorphized into human alternatives.
While glaciers collapse and the ice caps break up around her, a polar bear named
Sushi (Bella Hudson) struggles to find an ice flow big enough to support her weight. Meanwhile,
a conference on climate change dawdles ineffectually in nearby Greenland. In the Galapagos, two sea turtles,
an old married couple, Winifred and Winston (Redgrave and Broadbent), are still devoted to each
other after more than 700 years, but they must flee their home after an oil spill that mimics the
Exxon Valdez. In Australia, a kangaroo named Toby (Jason Donovan), a Tasmanian Devil
dubbed Smiley (Pete Zarustica) and a koala, Ken (Oliver Green), narrowly escape a raging brush
fire started by a careless motorcyclist. They decide it's time for a change. (Being Australian, all
three of them love beer, which they can only get by raiding human supplies, but never mind.)
The most incongruous character, and the one that best demonstrates the depth of the
filmmakers' vegetarian convictions (which, for me, is both admirable in its honesty and
entertaining in its whackiness) is Charles the rooster—and a
French rooster at that. He's voiced by the great verbal chameleon, Andy
Serkis, the voice of Gollum in
The Lord of the Rings, and we first encounter him as he's about to be beheaded, plucked and served for
dinner by a
shipboard chef. Since he's French, Charles is a firm believer in
liberté, and he jumps ship rather than fall slave to another's
appetite. By a few only-in-the-(animated)-movies devices, Charles joins up with other refugees from the disasters previously seen, and the group
arrives in the
African delta, where the film's main action is set. They think they've arrived in paradise, but
they're about to discover differently.
The delta menagerie is a picturesque bunch that would never co-habit in nature. Except for the
rival herds of rhinos and water buffalo squaring off over control of the local water hole—I
couldn't decide whether they more closely resembled street gangs or political parties— most
species live in relative harmony. Even the local lion, the appropriately named Socrates (Stephen
Fry), has given up eating meat (!) as a result of a youthful trauma suffered while exploring the
canyon colloquially known as the Valley of Death (of which more in a moment). Socrates' friend
is the meerkat, Billy (Corden), who is the classic everyman hero, an ordinary guy whom most
don't take seriously. Billy just wants to be a good husband and father. Assorted creatures like the
giraffe Giselle (Lumley), the elephant Angie (French) and an ape named Bongo (Omid Djalili),
who fancies himself a hair stylist and has a scam impersonating an "oracle", round out the
collection.
But the delta is dying, because its water supply has mysteriously disappeared. As the rhinos and
water buffalo clash with greater violence over the ever-shrinking water hole, the remaining
inhabitants pant with thirst. The arrival of the refugee group internationalizes the problem and
leads to a call for action. Billy and Socrates have already ventured into the Valley of Death, from
which water always flowed in the past, and they discover a huge obstruction that we instantly
recognize as a dam. On the other side are artificially created lakes and ponds that are the
foundation for a massive luxury resort, Eden Paradise, built by one Smith (Michael Glover), who
is currently seeking new investors. He's also hosting the latest climate change conference, in
what is obviously their biggest boondoggle to date. Smith's idealistic daughter, Maya (Kim
Holland), sides with the animals, and his club "mascot", a chimpanzee named Toto (yes, Toto;
Jason Griffith) suffers from split loyalties, because his secret dream is to be part of an act in
Vegas, but he remembers where he came from.
Despite logic, species identity and the laws of physics, the animals must unite to bring down the
dam and restore water to the delta. They succeed, of course, inspired by a surprisingly effective
scene in which Winifred and Winston address the crowd, sharing their insights about humanity
gleaned from centuries of observation—or, more accurately, their condemnation. From a
"message" perspective, there's much to dispute in the scene, but dramatically it's fascinating.
Suppose an animal with such a life span were able to speak with advanced vocabulary,
knowledge and logic; who's to say it wouldn't reach the same conclusions as Winifred and
Winston? The best dramatists always let their characters articulate a consistent and persuasive
point of view, even if it's not the last word. (This is why Shakespeare is so hard to pin down.) If
one can step outside the ideological boxes for a few minutes, scenes like this one in
Animals
United provide the opportunity, to paraphrase Robert Burns, of seeing ourselves as others
might see us.
Of course, that's for the adults in the audience. Most of the film is for kids. When the Tasmanian
Devil is emitting noxious fumes from every orifice (a running gag that gets overdone), or Billy is
inventing his own version of golf using a stick and dried hyena "poo-poo", or the animals are
evading the stock-villain hunter kept on staff by the hotel management, the target audience is
obviously six and under. Still, though Klooss and Tappe never achieve anything like Pixar's level
of sophistication—who does?—they throw in unexpectedly clever winks to the adults. When
Charles is guiding the refugees across the ocean, he suddenly starts crooning the Charles Trenet
standard "La Mer". When Billy is walking along on his quest for water, he breaks into song, but
instead of warbling some newly penned ditty aimed at an Oscar nod, he breaks into an updated
rendition of the Roger Miller classic, "King of the Road". Both of these caught me so off guard
that I started laughing with delight. Sometimes, old songs
are the best.
Animals United Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Although Animals United had a relatively modest budget (reportedly somewhere between $40 and
$50 million), computer animation has progressed to the point where a lot of value can be created
for that amount, if the talent is there. The film's frames may not be as jam-packed with detail as the
best of Pixar's creations, but the creatures are sophisticated in their conception and detailed in
their realization, and ARC's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reproduces all the fine renderings of
texture in such demanding areas as fur, moisture, gravel and dirt. Colors are appropriately
saturated, blacks are black (the panther in the Valley of Death is especially well-done), and there
is no video or other noise to interfere with your viewing pleasure. As with all such digital
animation, the Blu-ray was presumably sourced from digital files, thereby ensuring that the end
product matches what the animators created.
In Europe, Animals United was released to theaters in 3D, and many sequences would obviously
benefit from 3D rendering. However, ARC has not announced any plans to release a 3D version.
Animals United Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track fully utilizes the five channels to immerse the viewer in the film's
experience. Discrete effects are plentiful (e.g., beer cans tossed over your shoulder), as are pans
(an airplane flying) and all-around activities (stampedes and showdowns between the rhinos and
the water buffalos). Bass extension is significant and substantial, because the ground trembles for
several reasons, at a number of points in the film. The numerous voice performances, with their
wide variety of accents and intonations, are well-reproduced and generally confined to the front
center. The underscoring by the prolific David Newman is spread across the soundstage and
blended unobtrusively into the background. This may not be the subtlest of soundtracks, but it's
effective and professional.
Animals United Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
No extras are included.
Animals United Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Is Animals United a great animated film? I think Pixar and Dreamworks Animation don't need to
start worrying just yet. But there's undeniable craftsmanship behind it, the kind that only
improves with subsequent ventures, and next time the subject matter may not be as difficult to
sell in an American market. That the film's pro-animal slant would set off
ideological trip wires here can be seen in user comments at Amazon and IMDb. I enjoyed it
precisely because it played like something that would never have survived a journey through the
U.S. studio marketing maw, which almost always aims for blandness. Kids, of course, won't care
either way. Recommended, but know what you're getting into.