Disappointing.

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2005)

I think I'm just getting WAY tired of the whole CG Animated movie formula, what with the famous comedians voicing all the characters, the outrageous animation style, and the annoying pop culture references. This sometimes works and can add to a film, but it shouldn't BE the whole film. Even more dull here is the lack of character development synchronized with dialogue and mannerisms that are totally exaggerated to the point of being just irritating. I don't know where the "Acting" went in these movies. it used to be that you could find all the subtlety and realism that is found in live action; now animated films are just one long comedy routine, everyone is at some wild end of the emotional spectrum ALL THE TIME, and every action is punctuated with falling over or hitting someone else in the head. No animated character is "annoyed" anymore - he has to be raving and outraged. And and no one is "pleased," but must be jumping up and down and doing backflips. I think the believable acting standards must have disappeared as soon as animators stopped having to actually *draw* them.
And those are the *developed* characters. You also have the ones that are nothing and go nowhere, like the hypochondriac giraffe that has no other personality traits, and the hippo that has no purpose beyond spouting urban slang that will soon be very dated and embarrassing - if it isn't already.
Basically this is one of those movies that has to be throwing something AT you all the time, either physical pratfalls (it felt like someone fell over comically every two minutes), animation that is trying too hard to be amazing, or babbling dialogue that is neither funny nor character-deepening. And as far as the design goes, these characters *have* to look ridiculous because the movie can't read any other way.
Overall, it's an example of everything that is annoying about computer animated films, and resolves very little beyond the conflict created by the lion's dietary needs once he's displaced in the wild. It's so depressing that a movie like this is already considered a "blockbuster," while a much better film like Brother Bear was not even given a chance. Hopefully, time will prove that it isn't the animation style that makes an animated movie good.