Not impressed...at all

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2005)

Nearly every person who likes this movie mentions something about the art and CGI. Even though I'm not drastically in love with either Star Wars or LoTR, I'd much rather watch THAT kind of CGI and appreciate it rather than pretend I'm enamored by a cartoon. Granted, the graphic art was the best part of this film, but there is not much else that's even good.
I enjoyed the film enough I suppose, to sit through it once that is. The story is adequate at best...anyone could write it. Yeah, there are some dispersed messages relating to life in general, but they feel preachy and forced to me. The film really never found an identity in regards to genre. Granted, this isn't always a problem, but it was here. I was confused the whole way through, waiting for a spot to laugh and trying to figure it if the drama was serious. The end effect was that it was not really ever funny and rarely had me waiting to see what developed.
The voices were decent, but I felt Jason Lee was ripped off by the animation. I think he knew where to go with the voice, but it didn't pay off in the graphic rendering of the character. Some of the script really disappointed me, e.g., "I'm not strong enough...to lose you again." Please, spare me. Again, I didn't buy into the drama.
To be fair, this is a kid's film (I'm definitely convinced this has no place among the ranks of non-kid films) and it passes nicely as one. Also, I tend to be unimpressed with most animated features, many for the same reasons as above. However, I knew this was below par when my wife, who loves so many Disney and Pixar films, looked at me at the end and just laughed (it was her second laugh in those two hours). It turns out that she was laughing about how mediocre the film was, which is quite the opposite of her reaction to most other Pixar productions.
I still give it a 7 out of 10, for two reasons. First, the CGI was impressive. Second, it was a solid kid's film, which is what it was meant to be in the first place. Why everyone is raving over it though, I really cannot understand. If I actually believed (like many people are saying in reviews) that this was meant primarily for adults, I'd easily drop it to a 4 or a 5.