BEFORE: This is another animated feature based on a kids' cable show that I've never watched, like "Jimmy Neutron" and "Teacher's Pet". But I am somewhat familiar with it, and the animation style, which is by the same company that did "Rugrats" (which I never cared for) and "Duckman" (which I did like, but for its humor, not the crudely-drawn animation).
It's about a family that travels around the world filming a nature documentary show, and the younger daughter has the ability to talk to animals, much like Mowgli. And Mae Whitman, who voiced Shanti in "Jungle Book 2" has a voice role here as "Schoolgirl", which I'm sure must be a crucial role.
THE PLOT: On an African safari, Eliza Thornberry discovers that thanks to a shaman, she can now talk to animals. When Eliza discovers that poachers in Africa's Serengeti Desert plan to kill an elephant herd with an electrified fence, she and her chimpanzee friend Darwin must somehow find a way to stop them.
AFTER: This one came on just a bit too strong with the anti-poaching message. Not that I'm in favor of animal poaching, or fur trapping, or anything like that. But I'm already against it, and I don't need a heavy-handed PSA about it in animated form. Still, maybe there are kids out there who aren't aware, so I'm going to let it slide.
There just wasn't a lot for me to grab on to with this one. OK, so Eliza wants to save a cheetah cub, I can get behind that. But the whole thing with her being sent to boarding school in London just seemed like an odd diversion, or some kind of time-killer until they could get her back to the action.
Plus, like in last night's film, there's an awful lot of people getting lost in the jungle, finding each other, then running off again. You'd expect that documentary filmmakers would have better ways of navigating through the jungle, and communicating with each other so their children wouldn't be constantly getting lost.
The big action scene involves elephants congregating in a particular valley during an eclipse. But not only is this unlikely (since there's no warning of an eclipse, and elephants walk slowly and would need to start out ahead of time) but never fully explained. Eliza makes up some B.S. answer in the end, but for me the reasoning wasn't there.
The "magic" angle is an OK way to explain why one character can talk to animals, and vice versa - hey, it worked in "Dr. Doolittle", didn't it? It's more attention to the topic than most movies have - in "Jungle Book 2", for example, Mowgli and the animals just converse with no explanation.
NITPICK POINT: Again, a movie features an animal stowing away in a person's luggage - all the way from Africa to London. Doesn't anyone x-ray bags? Of course they do. A monkey probably can't travel this way and get through airport security. Plus there are all sorts of quarantine restrictions, for good reasons. What if that monkey contaminated the whole boarding school?
I will give props for the soundtrack, though - with songs from Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and the Pretenders, just as a start. Didn't help the plot much, but I was impressed.
Starring the voices of Lacey Chabert (last heard in "Lion King 2"), Tim Curry (last heard in "Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties"), Lynn Redgrave (last seen in "Kinsey"), Tom Kane, Jodi Carlisle, Rupert Everett (last seen in "Stardust"), Marisa Tomei (last seen in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"), with cameos from Alfre Woodard (last seen in "Crooklyn"), Brock Peters (last seen in "Soylent Green"), Brenda Blethyn (last seen in "A River Runs Through It"), Charles Shaughnessy and Flea.
RATING: 3 out of 10 talking squirrels
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