Animal Crackers

GRADE: B-

THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.

IN BRIEF: Fine animation is once again upstaged by a weak unfocused book.

JIM'S REVIEW: Animal Crackers, an independent animated feature by Scott Sava has been languishing on the shelves for a number of years and has slowly resurfaced with the help of Netflix and some courtroom action. But it is the Shakespearian plotting behind-the-scenes narrative that is a more interesting story than the actual plot of the movie. Set to be released in 2017, the film was plagued with financial difficulties and political intrigue after it was bought by Weinstein Studios and resold to Chinese businessmen who interfered with the filmmaker's initial vision. Court fights and personal debt plagued the animator until recently when a certain streaming service became his lifesaver.

The film itself is a mix of creative ideas, some very well done, others unfulfilled. Based on Mr. Sava's graphic novel and inspired by those edible childhood favorite cookies, the meandering and far too convoluted scenario begins its tale with a flashback involving two brothers named Horatio and Bob Huntington who own a circus. Their eventual falling-out over a gypsy girl, Talia, leads to tragic results, which brings us to the main storyline about their nephew and present-day circus owner, Owen, his wife, Zoe, and their possession of a magical box of animal treats.

Directed by Mr. Sava and Tony Bancroft who show off enough craftsmanship from their animation department, the film follows the fate of many animated features suffering from a story that is sub-par to the visuals. A visual delight throughout, the film is undernourished by its aforementioned rambling script, written by Dean Lorey and Mr. Sava. Their plot becomes such a jumble of unprocessed notions, although I am not sure where the blame goes due to the real-life background behaviors and the mishandling of the film. Nevertheless, the well-rendered animation itself is definitely worth viewing.

The major snag with the film is its scattershot screenplay. The first half hour is merely story exposition and character development before it even kicks into the plot mechanics about the box of magical animal crackers. Then the customary action and chase sequences follow with an overabundance of snappy tune montages that do little to advance the story, except to wow you with its wonderful computer-generated visuals. Yes, there is much too see, yet too little to ponder.

But behold the film's animation skills! They may be on overdrive, with rarely a quiet moment and desperate to impress the shortest of attention spans from the youngest of moviegoers. Still, the overall look of the film is superb, for viewers of any age, with its vivid primary color palette, stylized backgrounds, and the filmmaker's obsession to the simplest details. Character design is inventive and each exaggerated figure expresses its own unique personality and sense of wonder.

And what a cast they have assembled! Voiceovers are provided by a high pedigree of skilled actors: Married couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as Owen and Zoe, Sir Ian McKellan and Gilbert Gottfried are the antagonists, with fine supporting work by Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Raven-Symoné, Patrick Warburton, and Harvey Fierstein. All bring their A-game to the project.

Bear McCleary's lively score includes original songs by the likes of Michael Bublé, Huey Lewis and the News, Howard Jones, and Toad the Wet Sprocket, most of which are forgettable ditties. One can see the care and lavishness doted on this personal project by so many talented people,especially noticeable is Mr. Cava's earnest passion to his "pet" project (pun intended)

Despite all the love and heartache given to this independent project and some wonderful style and flair, the end result is ultimately lacking focus. Animal Crackers has just too many half-baked ideas to become the proper cinematic sustenance it wants to be. Still one hopes Mr. Cava has better luck on his deservingly future projects.

This movie start to finish is just the most imaginative fun. Scott Christian Sava's creation of animal crackers is the most fun I have seen in a long time. I loved every minute of this movie. I don't want to give away spoilers, but magic, magic, oh my fun magic

This is the circus that every child dreamed of and almost tantalizingly got, but never quite as brilliantly as this movie. From the opening with Horatio we see the difference between good and evil. Or in this case cruelty vs gentle loving kindness!

And that is the extent of my spoilers you will get! Watch Animal Crackers today and enjoy the imaginative ride it will take you on. The voice actors were brilliantly cast. Some of my favorites too. Patrick Warburton, Danny DeVito, Ian MacKlellan (sp?) and so many more! Honestly, what are you waiting for! Go... Go.... watch it now!

I dug this up a little while back and now that I heard the great news that Netflix is adding it this month, I figured I'd leave my review. Despite its obscure release and generally insignificant existence, this movie was particularly impressive. The voice cast was perfect, animation nicely fluid and colorful with an entertaining story. Of course, there were the couple random scenes where you felt, 'What are they thinking?' Or 'Why didn't they just do this?' But all in all, it was a delightfully amusing film that I enjoyed watching (along with my nephews/niece ranging from 12 to 5 yrs). They thought the hamster bit was hilarious!

This is an enjoyable film. Viewers shouldn't go into this expecting Pixar, nor a lot of humor. This is a cute and fun story, albeit a somewhat cookie-cutter plot line. The performances are good, the overall story line holds together, and it offers a decent ending. It never came across as boring or juvenile (a flaw of many poor animations). It should prove entertaining for children and adults alike. I especially enjoyed the husband-wife relationship of the two main characters; they were well-developed and well-portrayed. A bit of cliche here, but fun cliche. Well worth watching.

REVIEW - ANIMAL CRACKERS

Why do I do it?

I try to keep abreast of the latest movies so I can review them and saw the write up for this so thought I'd give it a try.

Ok I'm not the target audience for this as I'm 51 years old and not 6 but here goes.

Animated film and what attracted me to it was the sheer amount of stars doing the voice over for this include Danny Devito and Sylvester Stalone.

Actually quite good, kept me interested anyway, not really the humour for adults and there isn't really any dual humour, one joke for kids and one for adults that the kids won't understand but enjoyed it none the less.

Interesting story, set in modern times using mobile phones etc. Animation very good and a great way to waste 90 minutes with your kids who will just love this film.

Definitely a family sit around the TV movie.

Rating 7 out of 10