Guardian of the Highlands

This has got to be the worst film I've ever seen. The animation is difficult to look at. The characters are rather creepy (why exactly does the goat wear clothes and talk??). And the story, what there is of it, makes little to no sense.

Were there reasons in the first place to see Sir Billi? Yes, that it was Sean Connery's comeback, that there are some talented actors on board and that it was billed to be the first animated film to be done entirely in Scotland. Avid fans of the animation medium would find a further reason to see it. It's a shame that such a great and charismatic actor like would comeback with a film that is a contender for the worst film of his career, certainly the worst animated film of 2013 and the worst I've seen in a while.

The only redeeming qualities are the striking Bond-style opening sequence and Dame Shirley Bassey's singing, nice song and she sounds great. You'd think that Connery would elevate things as well, sadly while it was nice to hear him and his distinctive voice his talent is wasted by being given little to do, it makes one wonder what made him break his retirement in the first place. The rest of the cast aren't much better, they lack energy and some of the accents are cringe-worthy.

And there's no better news with the animation, which is really quite bad. The characters are very plastic-looking and the colours are garish. It often looks very freaky-looking as well. The music is not bad-sounding but is not used well, like some lines it can be out of place, and the Bond references were completely pointless, adding absolutely nothing to the story. Were they paying homage to Connery by any chance?

Sir Billi is a very poorly-written film too. The dialogue as a whole is uninspired and unremarkable, ruined further by that it seems to have no idea who it's aiming at. There is a lot of smut and innuendo which will go over kids' heads, if they were trying to widen the target audience they failed at that. Even worse is that not only is the use of it overkill but even adults won't find it funny at all and will find it distasteful instead. The story is dull and incoherent, and filled with too many characters that serve little if anything to the telling of it. Regarding the characters here too, if you are trying to find any to root for, good luck, that certainly didn't happen with me(you might think differently though).

Overall, from a personal subjective opinion Sir Billi was dire with very little good about it. Considering the potential it had it was really disappointing too, Planes and Justin and the Knights of Valour were underwhelming films with some potential, but Sir Billi's potential was even bigger(being Sean Connery's comeback and claiming to be the first animated film from Scotland) and fell flat on its face even harder. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Firstly, the character design in this film is abysmal; every character is hard to look at it. Secondly, the whole concept is quite strange, and frankly pretty sinister - animals and humans live side-by-side and can talk with each other, yet cows are still milked, certain animals are threatened with extermination, etc... Beyond that the whole thing is very strange, the main character is apparently a retired vet, but also has been knighted? There's a policeman obsessed with catching a beaver? There's a duck who flies a plane?

The storyline veers from repititce and predictable to bizarre and inexplicable, and the jokes and stereotypes feel dated at best, and for a kids film, there are some weirdly sexual, and quite frankly offensively sexist moments with female characters.

I don't know who funded this but I feel bad for them.

Avoid.

Rest In Peace Sean Connery you deserved a much better end to your career then this movie. May your legacy not be defined by this movie but by your amazing work In other films 😔

I'm a huge fan of James Bond fan and Sir Sean Connery (RIP), so it was very disappointing to know that this was his final film before he passed away. Why he ever signed on for this is beyond me. It was one of the worst computer-animated films I've ever seen. And given the sheer amount of sex appeal, profanity, and disturbing visuals, it wasn't appropriate for kids at all.

The film takes place in Scotland where humans and anthropomorphic animals co-exist. And for some inexplicable reason, Beavers are illegal. Sir William "Billi" Sedgewick (Sean Connery) is a veterinarian who lives om the town of Catterness, Scotland with a goat named Gordon (Alan Cumming). After a truck full of Beavers being forcibly relocated to Norway crashes, releasing the animals, an animal hating cop named McKenzie (Ford Kiernan) begins to hunt them down. Now Billi and his friends must band together to save the day. That's about all I bothered to gather from what I could bear to watch.

The story is so sloppy and difficult to follow, you'll probably get a headache trying to figure it out. The animation and scenery are terrible, only a step above "FoodFight!" released the same year. The colors tended to look muddy and dull, and all of the textures were either grainy or plain. The character models, both human and animal, all had ugly or strange looking designs. The animal characters were the worst with their uncanny faces that make them look more like mutants than real wildlife. Even Sir Billi wasn't so easy on the eyes himself.

The voice acting and dialogue is as bad as the animation. Connery himself, who was in his 80s during production, sounded worn out as he murmured his lines as if from his own bedroom in his pajamas right after waking up. Everyone else sounded no better and the child actors were outright annoying with their constant ear-piercing screams.

Overall, this was a horrible sendoff for Sean Connery, who should have retired for good after "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" which was a mediocre film unto itself, but still much better than this hot mess and at least it was a commercial success. Instead, his career ended on a very bitter note that he didn't deserve.