Maurice may look like a penguin - but he's a real tiger inside! Raised by a tigress, he's the clumsiest Kung-Fu master ever. Along with his friends, The Jungle Bunch, he intends to maintain...
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At the South Pole, the walruses install a rule of terror for the penguins. Tommy and his sister travel to the Equator, where legend says a jungle 'penguin warrior' and his six companions ... See full summary »
A resourceful penguin, his piscine mate in a bowl, a brainy tarsier, a bat, a gorilla, a frog and a toad form a team to help fellow forest dwellers in times of distress.
Your favorite animals are back for an all-new family adventure! Join Maurice, the beloved penguin-tiger, and the Jungle Bunch on their quest for hidden pirate treasure!
A hero's journey with a most unlikely hero. Yellowbird is a teeny tiny orphaned bird that has never left the nest, has no family, yet desperately wants one - That is, until he finds himself leading a flock on their migration to Africa.
Director:
Christian De Vita
Stars:
Arthur Dupont,
Sara Forestier,
Bruno Salomone
A group of animals waiting for the annual flood they rely on for food and water discover that the humans, who have been destroying their habitats have built a dam for a leisure resort.
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Four crazy antiheroes on the run. Their leader is the unworldly innocent, naive Marnie, a house cat who is not allowed to leave the house and only knows about real life from television. ... See full summary »
Directors:
Christoph Lauenstein,
Wolfgang Lauenstein
Set in a bustling bird city on the edge of the majestic Victoria Falls, "Zambezia" is the story of Kai, a naïve, but high-spirited young falcon who travels to the bird city of "Zambezia", ... See full summary »
Director:
Wayne Thornley
Stars:
Leonard Nimoy,
Jeremy Suarez,
Abigail Breslin
Rejected by his superstitious herd, a half-striped zebra embarks on a daring quest to earn his stripes but finds the courage and self-acceptance to save all the animals of the Great Karoo.
In a magical faraway land, in a picturesque little village nestled among green meadows and rolling hills, lives a flock of carefree sheep. But their pastoral and stress-free life is ... See full summary »
Directors:
Andrey Galat,
Maksim Volkov
Stars:
Alexander Petrov,
Sergey Bezrukov,
Elizaveta Boyarskaya
Maurice may look like a penguin - but he's a real tiger inside! Raised by a tigress, he's the clumsiest Kung-Fu master ever. Along with his friends, The Jungle Bunch, he intends to maintain order and justice in the jungle, as his mother did before him. But Igor, an evil koala, wants to destroy the jungle once and for all, helped by his army of silly baboons... The Jungle Bunch - to the rescue.
Despite my undying and lifelong love for animation and family films, 2017 has been very mixed when it comes to animation. There are gems like 'The LEGO Batman Movie', but for every gem there are atrocities like 'The Emoji Movie' (while not the cancer incarnate as described on release the film is near-irredeemable).
You can do with far worse than 'The Jungle Bunch', which actually looks like effort was put into it and compared to some of my recent animated viewings is while still not particularly good one of the better-faring ones. At the same time, there's far better. 'The Jungle Bunch' is watchable and there are good qualities, but there is not much to go wild over. It could have been far better with a more consistent tone and making the story simpler.
Starting with the good things, the animation is quite good. It's bright and colourful with some very nice attention to detail in the backgrounds and a real attempt to make the jungle world immersive, while the character designs are cute and much more natural than most animated films seen recently. The music is rousing and infectious while having a darker or emotional tone when needed.
There are some appealing characters here, particularly Miguel and Maurice (an easy to relate to protagonist). There is also some very amusing comedy, nice suspense and some charm, and that the film sticks to its roots is laudable and worthy of credit.
However, there are other elements that are misjudged. The lack of originality and general memorability can be forgiven, less forgivable is that the story is one that is likely to leave children and adults alike baffled, things could have been much simpler and the film should have done less which would have solved the issues with the story being over-complicated. 'The Jungle Bunch's' tone is also problematic, with some light comedy and cute characters juxtaposed with violent action and scenes that some may (emphasis on may) find confusing or too darkly upsetting what the film was trying to do and who it was aiming for is too often not clear and with too much of a disconnect, like it was trying too hard.
While there are amusing moments other gags do fall flat, mainly because some of it is awkward and childish. The villain Igor is only okay, not particularly memorable or interesting and his psychopathic nature unbalances the tone somewhat at times. Some of the dialogue doesn't quite make sense and like it was translated oddly, while the voice cast is just adequate, nobody is terrible (fairly competent actually) but there is not a lot that's remarkable and there is a lack of energy.
Overall, watchable but not enough to go wild over. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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Despite my undying and lifelong love for animation and family films, 2017 has been very mixed when it comes to animation. There are gems like 'The LEGO Batman Movie', but for every gem there are atrocities like 'The Emoji Movie' (while not the cancer incarnate as described on release the film is near-irredeemable).
You can do with far worse than 'The Jungle Bunch', which actually looks like effort was put into it and compared to some of my recent animated viewings is while still not particularly good one of the better-faring ones. At the same time, there's far better. 'The Jungle Bunch' is watchable and there are good qualities, but there is not much to go wild over. It could have been far better with a more consistent tone and making the story simpler.
Starting with the good things, the animation is quite good. It's bright and colourful with some very nice attention to detail in the backgrounds and a real attempt to make the jungle world immersive, while the character designs are cute and much more natural than most animated films seen recently. The music is rousing and infectious while having a darker or emotional tone when needed.
There are some appealing characters here, particularly Miguel and Maurice (an easy to relate to protagonist). There is also some very amusing comedy, nice suspense and some charm, and that the film sticks to its roots is laudable and worthy of credit.
However, there are other elements that are misjudged. The lack of originality and general memorability can be forgiven, less forgivable is that the story is one that is likely to leave children and adults alike baffled, things could have been much simpler and the film should have done less which would have solved the issues with the story being over-complicated. 'The Jungle Bunch's' tone is also problematic, with some light comedy and cute characters juxtaposed with violent action and scenes that some may (emphasis on may) find confusing or too darkly upsetting what the film was trying to do and who it was aiming for is too often not clear and with too much of a disconnect, like it was trying too hard.
While there are amusing moments other gags do fall flat, mainly because some of it is awkward and childish. The villain Igor is only okay, not particularly memorable or interesting and his psychopathic nature unbalances the tone somewhat at times. Some of the dialogue doesn't quite make sense and like it was translated oddly, while the voice cast is just adequate, nobody is terrible (fairly competent actually) but there is not a lot that's remarkable and there is a lack of energy.
Overall, watchable but not enough to go wild over. 5/10 Bethany Cox