Nothing spectacular

Rating: 4/10 (29 January 2006)

This movie proves without a doubt that when it comes to the world of CGI movies, there is Pixar and then there is a whole lotta non-Pixar. Guess which is better.
The whole "humor for the adults" consisted of a slew of over-the-top pop culture references to American Beauty, Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone, etc. If an animated Pauly Shore popped out and said "remember when Charlton Heston saw the state of liberty blown up? This is totally like that! Huh huh!" it could not have been more obnoxious. Apparently any original jokes were far too taxing for the writers' imaginations; hamming it up with retreads had to do. Also, thank you (the writers) so much for reminding the audience that the animals lived in New York every five minutes. Those of us west of the Hudson River really don't give a rat's rear end. Thanks again for trying out the whole 'irony' thing by juxtaposing one of the most beautiful songs ever (Louie Armstrong singing What A Wonderful World) with scenes of nature's brutality. Its been done before and by people more talented than you. I'll send you the therapist's bill for my 4 year old daughter after the bloodthirsty crocodile swallowed the adorable little ducky whole. Next time, I'll rent something less traumatizing for her... like Saving Private Ryan or Pulp Fiction.
The animation was average. Alex (the lion) had a mane that stayed the same basic geometric shape for the whole movie, defying weather, newtonian physics and all known hair care products. Contrast this with the 2.5 million individually rendered hairs of Sully's body in Monsters, Inc. There wasn't a whole lot of attention to detail, but at least the lemurs were somewhat cute.
There are some positives: the thought of paramilitary penguins is hysterical to me and the hapless, sickeningly cute, big-eyed lemur that Alex initially terrifies makes for some good comic relief. Now if I can only get that "I like to move it, move it!!" song out of my head...