User reviews

The recent years have spawned a great number of animated movies, as the animation studios are picking up pace and utilizing better graphics, dynamics and overall improvement. "Animals United" is actually a decent animated movie from 2010.

The story is about the animals of the savanna having no water, as man has build a massive dam at a hotel resort. And animals worldwide are also suffering from the effects of climate change and global warming. The animals band together to change this and make man see the error of his ways.

Initially the storyline is adequate, however, it is weighed down to a level where it becomes intolerable at times, because of the heaviness of the topics of which the story tries to incorporate; climate change and global warming. At times it just becomes too much of a propaganda against the mistakes people have made in the poaching and exploitation of Earth's resources. It really wasn't suitable for an animated movie, and worked against the movie as a whole.

As for the animation and graphics, well I enjoyed that. The images were nice to look at and the characters were well created and had lots of unique characteristics and personalities. Many of the animal characters were likable and nice, which would be a great appeal for the family movie aspect of "Animals United".

The English version of the movie had a good list of voice actors/actresses to its rank, and people did good jobs with bringing the voices out for each individual character.

Despite the upsides to the movie, I am going to give "Animals United" a 5 out of 10 rating only, because of the climatic and economical aspects that the movie tried to incorporate and painfully fleshing out that man is to blame. We already know that man is the culprit behind the sorry state of our Earth as it is today. And those heavy topics didn't have a home in an animated movie in my opinion, hence the mediocre rating, as it brought down the movie's overall enjoyment.

For a family movie, "Animals United" comes off as too heavy and too political. It is something that people from early teens and beyond could relate to and understand. But small kids and children? No, the movie's topic is too heavy for those. Sure, they could enjoy the animation itself and the characters, but not the story.

It's the start of a new season and the animals all gather around the drinking place waiting for the water. When it doesn't come one of them starts a trip to find where it went and bring it back. When it becomes clear he can't fix this on his own a conference is started and all animals unite in their quest to bring the water back.

Animations films like this are clearly aimed for a younger audience - nothing bad ever happens and when it does it is buried under enough funny bits to make it pleasurable. The story is easy enough for that audience and not completely boring for the adults - even though its implementation is a -very- moralistic one, forcing a message down everybody's throats for the full duration of the film.

The animation itself is mixed - sometimes good, sometimes bad. The added 3D effects are pretty good but the film doesn't loose much if seen without them. The characters are the typical ones - ranging from the goof to the necessary evil to the wise old owl and the way they get together fits. The kid I watched it with enjoyed it richly and I wasn't bored to death, so that works.

6 out of 10 watered down morals

A film so bad it has forced me to spend time creating an IMDb account to warn others about it.

Animals United should not require a lengthy review or synopsis to achieve this aim. Despite being a feature clearly made for under 12s, the film has a brutal environmental and political agenda of breathtaking ambition. This is presented with so little nuance or charm that, despite all the perfectly good arguments for ecological action, you somehow despise the animals who star.

The plot is paper thin, chaotic and occasionally plain nonsense. For instance, the plot insists environmental conferences achieve nothing but a conference of animals which tails off into a juvenile eulogy for a fantasy world somehow inspires the action required. Not even my three year old niece fell for that level of reasoning.

Worst of all, I watched the entire film and, despite sharing the immediate area of the cinema with around twelve children of various ages, can honestly say they did not even smile once, let alone laugh. It is devoid of any entertainment value. I think you get the point.

I wonder how the makers of this film can live with the amount of energy being wasted to give it distribution...

First of all, children up to 11 years, especially girls, will love this movie.

It is very child-oriented, which means it is a bit infantile, especially in delivering its message. The message is, and here comes Al Gore in, who will love this movie also, that we humans are bad bad bad when it goes to matters of nature, animals, earth.

Parents will probably get bored sometimes, because the message is delivered with some long lasting sermons, which we hear all over the time, but in this case from the oldest and wisest animals on earth. And children learn that what their parents do for their living, is mostly bad and causes nature to suffer. But to be honest, that's true. Nature is raped by man, and we don't care. After there seems no other way in Germany to raise the funds for a Pixar-like animated movie, we have to live with it. Not too bad for us to be confronted with a bitter truth once more, although it's not brought to us very subtle.

Animation is good and doesn't stay behind current productions. 3d effects are also impressive and obviously not post-production.

The characters are nice and funny and believable, mostly cliché of course, the plot is executed adventurous enough to keep everybody in line, even if we know, how the movie will end.

What the movie lacks is independence, its a mixture of everything from Madagascar through Ice Age and Horton, a perfect example of target group oriented product placement. 'No experiments' was the prime directive during production, it's obviously. Personally, I thought they took that too serious.

But nevertheless we go into a theater to watch a movie that makes our kids happy. If this is what our children makes happy, so what shells ? I don't open my wallet (so wide) to have a censorious conversation afterward, but to ask 'How did you like it ?' and get the answer 'I loved it so much'. And I got it.

Lazy, badly written, tripe. The plot is so insultingly stupid I wouldn't let children watch it in case it harmed their development. I took my 3 year old son to watch this and even he was bored after 15 minutes (nothing happens in this time)and we ended up leaving 60 minutes into the film, along with several other people that hadn't yet fallen asleep.

There is NO humour in this, completely witless drivel from the start and it amazes me this was ever made. Pointless musical moments, one dimensional 'characters', not even some basic slapstick to keep kids interested. A total waste of time that doesn't deserve to be watched by anyone. The British voice cast should be ashamed of themselves.

This was truly the worst film I have ever paid money to watch. It was so terrible that my 9 year old sister and I left halfway through(she asked to leave!) This is a German-produced film with British voices edited in, and therefore the animation was off for the speaking. We went because of the amount of well-known stars in it, and yet all of them sounded dreadfully bored, with only James Corden trying, but trying way too hard. There was no plot at all and too many story lines to follow, each one receiving about 5 minutes before moving somewhere else and then suddenly all the characters are together with a minutes explanation of how. It was just so boring, so unless it is amazing for the last 20 minutes steer well clear of this film! There is a small scene showing fire, although you could clearly see the animation straight lines supporting the fire, it seemed more like a first draft. My only thought was that this must be politically based as there wasn't a single joke worthy of a laugh while we were there, but it was definitely not worth the £10 I paid to watch it, extremely disappointed as I was really excited before it.

This is the first time in about three or so months that I found myself this disappointed and angry with an animated film. I'm 19, and I adore animation and have done since I was about 2. But Animals United is a serious contender for the worst animated film I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of animated films, good and bad.

As bad as Titanic:The Animated Movie, Spiders Web:A Pig's Tale, Doogal and Secret of NIMH 2 are, and that word is being kind to them(the first one especially is an insult to the intelligence), Animals United for me surpasses them on levels of how painful and dull it is.

I have so many beefs with Animals United, but I have to say what angered me most was the voice cast. On paper, this is an amazing voice cast. James Corden? Jim Broadbent? Stephen Fry? However, this film wastes their talents completely, at the end of the day Corden is the only one who tries. Everybody else are either annoying(Dawn French, not helped that her character is annoying too) or are dreadfully uninterested(Broadbent in a very rare occurrence).

But a number of things do not help when it comes to the waste of these talented actors. The worst offender was the script, which was really deplorable. The writing in Animals United aims to be funny and poignant. Maybe its main target audience(essentially a family movie but in all honesty watching this I can only see under 12s getting any, if any, value from this film) will find it so, but I for one found it unfunny(the humour was just embarrassing!), saccharine and heavy-handed.

And there is also the lip-synching. I have seen some sloppy lip-synching in my time not just in animated films but in opera films/productions and films in general(though unlike here this in any of those only happened once or twice), but to say the lip-synching is sloppy here is being kind. It was all over the place, I don't remember a single time when it was in sync with the voices or lip-movements. Then again I may have been distracted by how bad the writing and characterisation was.

Animals United is devoid of a single likable or sympathetic character. I couldn't connect to a single character throughout here, and I imagine it was the same with the vocal cast as well. All the characters in Animals United are either annoying or underdeveloped, and that is including the titular character.

The lack of a good story doesn't help either. This is a story that is thin-too thin and uninteresting for an over-90-minute film- and predictable complete with themes that are presented in a superficial, chaotic and preachy manner. Pace-wise as well, excepting scenes such as the ending-and various transitions between plot points that are given less than 5 minutes to develop-that felt rushed, the film is a drag. And there are parts, particularly in the latter section, that feel as though they belong in another movie when it comes to talking about tone, also don't get me started on some of the truly dumb parts of Animals United. For example seeing a polar bear in the Savannah made me lose more than a couple of brain cells. Just for the record, I understand the message the film was trying to convey but the way it was put across was not done at all well.

I was hoping that some good animation might elevate things to a slightly better level. Sadly, even the animation wasn't done well...at all. The colours seem rather flat, the backgrounds are blocky, but the real abomination animation-wise was the character designs. I have seen some animated films and shows where "ugly" character designs are deliberate, but I doubt that was really the case here. Regardless of that, in my opinions they were just hideous, often over-sized and jerky and the mouth movements and lip-synching did little to help either.

I would also say the same for the soundtrack. As an aspiring singer and keen musician, I always look for a good soundtrack. Animals United is not an example of a good soundtrack, in fact it is the exact opposite of a good soundtrack. Not only are some of the musical numbers pointless, but almost every single one of them are misplaced. I didn't think much either of the melodies, which were forgettable, or the lyrics, which often took me out of the mood of the scene.

Overall, a dreadful animated film and one to be avoided. 0/10 Bethany Cox

It's OK. Nothing great. My little two year old likes it.

Seeing all of the right wingers here up in arms about the movie is what made me curious about it in the first place. I can't help but wonder if Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck said to go out and smear the name of this movie; It's gonna turn your kid into someone who cares about the environment and we can't be having that now! Next thing you know they'll be commies (some leap eh?) :)

Anyhow, back to reality. It's nothing great but I don't see the harm in watching a movie that presents a fantastical, hyperbolic tale of some of the harmful effects of what mankind does. I mean, if we're gonna have all of these war movies, may as well have an animals united movie. My boy has seen Bambi too, doesn't make us socialists. Watching Sci-Fi doesn't make people atheists either (even though heaven sounds like an eternal totalitarian socialist regime to me, but I digress). Gosh. People need to lighten up.

The phrase "there's an hour and a half that I ain't getting back" springs to mind. I saw this movie with an easily pleased four year old, a hard to please nine year old and a somewhat in middle five year old. All of us in agreement that this was the worst film we had ever seen. Not funny, is the German sense of humour a little different, terrible plot, so preachy and obvious as to be positively obnoxious. Ahh getting annoyed even writing this. Save your money. Not even remotely on par with the normal Pixar/Disney efforts. Cannot believe it is still running in my local cinema, someone somewhere with "a message" must be paying for that, it cannot be commercial!

The movie is very good! Much better than other animated films that have left this year.

I think people do not like because the film is a harsh reality that nobody wants to admit. Voices is the animation itself is phenomenal. The sound, music and effects are very good too.

The film had everything to succeed, but there was lack of disclosure.

Congratulations to director and producer of the film 5 *. I have seen and recommend!

Keep up the good work in animated films Constantin Productions. Regards. Filipe,

Apart from everything everyone else has said, its pretty stupid that the Tasmanian Devil is more recognizable as the old Warner Brothers "Tas" than an actual Tasmanian Devil ( that don't really live close to Ayers Rock either ).

The real ones actually look pretty cute ( but they sound like devils ).

My 15 year old daughter left the room, even though she still likes other kids movies such as Frozen. My 9 year old is tending to criticize it all the way through.

Don't be fooled by the names in the cast, its really disappointing that such talent would put their name to a movie such as this. Avoid Do not pay money for the DVD. Its really lame

This is the most blatant piece of global warming, man is the ultimate evil, propaganda I have ever seen. I kid you not, there is a Turtle that prattles on for five minutes about how evil man is, the bane of the earth, must be destroyed... If you are looking for entertainment, keep looking. If you are looking to indoctrinate your children, this is the perfect cartoon for you. The storyline and plot has one goal, and entertainment is not it. I am sure this will be required viewing in government schools around the world. The A-List actors, although very talented, all signed on to this piece of tripe, to further a political agenda and it shows. The acting is uninspired drivel, the animation poorly synced with the overdub. Most of the plot and lines are stolen from so many other films it would be difficult to name them all. The most glaring, however in Madagascar.

I recently rented this movie because my son liked the look of it. I hadn't read any reviews but just from the cover it looked pretty bad. I had no idea. Being a mother of three animal lovers and a zoologist myself I found the movie hideously inaccurate and even my youngest child who is only five was pointing out the mistakes. The overall moral was great but very poorly displayed. The attempts at humour were failed except if you're maybe two. The random inserting of songs didn't fit the storyline at all, and the dubbing seemed like they didn't even care if the words and movement of lips didn't match up. The creators meant for it to be a heartfelt and humorous film but I am saying this honestly; it sucked. I wouldn't let children watch it because the animals are too unrealistic. The animation went from okay to completely horrid. Maybe if the creators had put more time and research into it it would be a good film, because the message is meaningful but shown terribly. All in all it was a test of patience to watch. I really don't recommend this movie to anyone.

HOLEY UNDERWEAR! If you thought Captain Planet was preachy, just sit down in front of this crap-fest for a full dose.

From moment one, it's an attempt to blame HUMANS for climate, suggesting that polar bears don't know how to swim, that politicians go to the arctic for photo opportunities, that somehow, riding a motorbike automatically makes you a slothenly character who, even when there are plainly marked trash bins, would rather throw trash everywhere.

I'd like to sit down with the director and say, HEY MORON! WE AREN'T ALL LIKE THAT! Come down off your high horse and clean up YOUR OWN feces first.

You learn to appriciate the art of film making not only through great films, but also through the ones that are really really bad. This movie belongs in that last category....

Despite trying with some cheap jokes, the overall tone of this movie is rather dark, but what really bothers me is the inconsistency of the story and the overabundance of factual errors and improbabilities, in this movie we have African buffaloes with fur, upper incisors and (in the German dub) a Spanish accent, saltwater fish in a large open-top tank in either Botswana, Namibia or Angola (evaporation apparently being a non-issue for these tanks), animals from all over the globe who arrive in these landlocked regions after leaving a bathtub they used to cross the oceans, a biplane with an ATGM launcher, etc.. The worst of all these factual errors, IMHO, are the vegetarian lion - the rest of the carnivorous protagonists don't seem to eat anything either - and the dam closing in all water (instead of letting through roughly the same amount as before since otherwise it would simply spill over), because these are obvious plot devices to indoctrinate children with the political messages of this movie (meat is bad, mankind is evil).

OK i sow the movie twice and i think it is great. It is a family movie both fun and educational. For people without moral values this movie is worthless, but four people whit moral values ​​and understanding it's great. It may be an animation but in it there are some real things that are happening in our world. If you have kids you should let them watch the movie.And the bonus soundtrack is pretty good Wild vor Wut.

So for people who have the IQ above the sea level and have some moral values i definitely recommend this movie.

Don't let people tell you what you like watch it and then grade it. Hope you like it and do not forget to rate it.

I've never written a review on IMDb before, but if any film warrants a review - it's this one. I feel you should be warned.

I picked in up in the supermarket because it was cheap and I'd really wanted to see it when it was in the cinemas. With so many amazing voices cast, it's bound to be great right? Wrong.

I'm not sure what the main purpose of this film was - to preach about climate change or to entertain children. Unfortunately, it has failed in both. The idea is great, but the execution is awful.

Animation is average at best, script is shockingly bad, story line is virtually non-existent. It seems the writers were so busy trying to include every element or effect of human pollution that they forgot to work it into a believable story line.

I don't want to go into specific details of the issues in this film in case you do choose to see it (although a polar bear in Africa?!?) but this film has no entertainment value and tells you nothing you don't know already. I don't even thinks kids would get anything out of it, except maybe a giggle the first time the fart joke is used.

I had to put Tangled on after it had finished, just to assure myself that good animation did still exist in this world! Save yourself your time and money, don't bother with Animals United.

Where do I start with this one? We have a 2 1/2 yr old & a 4 1/2 year old who love Madagascar, Jungle Book, and dozens of other animal films. This movie couldn't hold their attention...they left the room & my pay per view money was spent. This movie was straight out propaganda about why man is evil, has multiple gender-uncertain characters, promotes violence, racial stereotypes, foul language, a poorly developed plot, mediocre animation and simply falls short of anything worthy of time or money. I don't appreciate the attempt to try & brainwash my children. Icing on the cake for me was the lion who became vegetarian after he grew out of being "young & foolish" and the speech from turtles who explained how man has ruined the planet forever. Horrible all the way around.