Disco Ormene

School holiday season would dictate more animated and family oriented films being released in the theatres, and while we would rue at having to wait until September for Pixar's Up, we have to make do with the rather lacklustre Monsters vs Aliens with 3D gimmick, and the little unknowns (pardon the pun) like Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms, set in the insect kingdom with earthworms species being put in the spotlight.

I suppose it's a challenge to animate earthworms. After all, they're tiny, they're slimy, and you just can't tell heads over tails. But no matter, this Danish animation managed to have it all worked out, fusing disco singing and dancing, with an effective, if not tried and tested, formula about turning zeroes into heroes. Released as the dubbed English version here, the animation is easy on the eyes, going for a very clean look with just enough visual details that prevent it from clogging up your senses. Disco lovers will no doubt find themselves tapping to famous tunes of the Disco era, such as Blame it on the Boogie and evergreens from the Village People, amongst others.

But I was rather surprised and pleased at the more mature theme a show for kids had attempted to tackle, and that's on discrimination. It's set very early on in the film that the earthworms are of lower caste in the insect kingdom, getting no respect or love from the larger community, just because they are at the bottom of the foodchain, having no valued skills other than to maintain the compost of their shared habitat. Literally the poop job if you'd like, and having a career none other than to do that for the rest of their lives. One cannot even aspire to be the CEO of their compost company, because it's a position reserved for other insects to manage over them.

So dreamers like the titular Barry, who dreams of being a disco singer/dancer with his own band, have no place in the community for his lack of willingness to conform, unlike best pal Tito, a fat worm looked down upon and being made fun of because of its weight. Barry finds his true calling one day when he gets passed down his dad's old box to help him in his middle-management examinations, and soon finds enough inspiration to turn his dream into reality, even if it means dodging his protective mother's queries, and having absolutely no clue going about doing so, assembling a rag-tag team of worms with raw talent that needs plenty of polishing.

Throw in a romance subplot, and a chief adversary in the form of a ballad crooning beetle who sees them as a rival in their bid to win 10 Grand in a Top of the Pops equivalent contest, and you have a neat film which has great musical tracks and a simple story with a main theme that children can grasp onto. It's a little inspiring as well with the entrenched thought of dreaming big, and working at making one's dreams come true, with what matters being the journey and the experience gained, not everything focused solely on the destination and material goals.

The story starts with Barry a worm who accidentally finds a record of disco music and plays it. His body starts moving, his tale flips and the music takes over him. Barry feels worthless. He works for a company in a compost pile. Lots of insects make fun of him and his capabilities. He wants to do more with his life.

He starts to look for band members a singer, drum player etc He convinces his friends to join he decides to and enter his band in a contest hoping to win money

The movie is very amusing. It is animated but more for kids over 12. The songs are disco music "Boogie Wonderland, Feelings, Disco Inferno, Upside Down" and more. All really good.

The singing and instruments animation in the movie are so good with worms playing the guitar and drums.

Barry is discouraged - others keep telling him disco is not the kind of music that will make him famous.

The storyline shows if you keep trying to do something you believe in and have talent for -- people still come against you but, in the end you come out the winner. I found that to be a good reason enough to like the movie though I think was made for entertainment,

The producers, cast members, musical and animation team make this a great movie.

So this is a movie about worms who are treated by other insects with the same respect of white people being prejudice towards black people. Suddenly, a worm named Barry gains a love for disco music, so with the help of some other passionate worms, he sets forth to compete in a music talent competition to prove that worms have more to offer than being gross grubs.

Yeah it's as cliche as it gets, and while this isn't a bad film per se, it definitely leans on the mediocre side. The biggest flaw this film has is how predictable the plot is; it's the same underdog story we've heard in countless other animated features where the main character wants to rise up above all odds and prove he's worth something. It doesn't help that it also contains the story beats of getting a band together, the main protagonist having a falling out with the other members, and then they get back together, and a female band member even becomes his love interest. Seriously, this feels like a diet Pixar or Dreamworks film with even more derivative beats.

It doesn't help that the characters are rather one dimensional down to their basic traits. Barry is the loser who wants to prove he's more than what he seems, Tito is the fat best friend who resists the band at first before soon joining in, Gloria is the love interest who can't sing unless from the heart, and Tony Dean is the generic bully singer who hates any worm. There really isn't much weight to them outside of their traits and the movie doesn't really let them grow outside of the generic plot. The only character worth remembering is the British punk rock worm Jimmy, since he offers the best laughs and grows from hating disco to liking it rather smoothly. Oh, and Barry's dad does give some closure to the plot, but he might've done it later than he should have.

Furthermore, considering that this is a Danish animated film with an English dub, the voice acting itself is fine and some of the singing is quite enjoyable. However, where the voices are passable enough, the synching is not very good and it makes it all the more obvious how little the mouth movements match the alternate language track.

Now to the film's credit, it does have a good message. It's not the fame or money coming from music that makes it worth it, it's the love and passion from the creator that really matters. That can speak to anybody of a young age, and as cliched as the story is, it does highlight said message to remind all that fame is nothing compared to the talent hidden inside you. Also, while not Pixar quality, the animation is decent enough and the animators do get rather creative with the dance moves, timing, and even lights. Although, why did you have to put breasts on the female worms? That...that's just wrong. Lastly, the soundtrack is a lot of fun considering it contains a bunch of 70s disco classics, and it even made me sing along much of the time.

Overall, Disco Worms is by no means of dubious quality, but it certainly doesn't rise above mediocrity. While the message, animation, and soundtrack do give the film some fun entertainment value, the predicable story, bland characters and obvious poor lip synch keep the film from being anything special. I guess if you're in the mood for a sub par movie that at least offers some fun songs and groovy animation, then you might have fun with this. Otherwise, this is a generic albeit harmless film that only children might have fun with, but at least they'll understand to not let fame get to their head. In fact, never let go of your talent, and keep on playing that funky music pink worm...I mean white boy.

I don't know why most of the reviews are overhyping this film. The characters aren't really interesting and dull and the plot is really unoriginal and its just a ripoff of Flushed Away and Bee Movie and every second it just starts to become even more worse with stuff like horrible political messages and stereotypes.

Animation is really bad and the characters have weird movements that fell into the uncanny valley and the backgrounds look like plastic (even in 2008 there were films with better animation than this) the character design looks like it had potential but got messed up in a horrible film.

This is the story about friends grounded to the corporation jobs. In their world you cannot be somebody if you do not agree with the corporationism. Work, eat, sleep are only allowed activities. Is it not the same as we have in our world ?. Film required deep understanding and this is not film for young children because they will not able to understand what is going on. This is not film for everybody.