The Jungle Bunch

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

Most of the audience with whom I saw this movie were small kids. They seemed to like it.

I thought it was fine, but not memorable. The graphics are nothing special, and pale against something like Bambi or Ernest and Celestine. The movie involves a lot of violence,things getting blown up, though no one is really shown getting hurt.

I've seen better in its genre.

Went to see this with my three year old and I have to say I was very disappointed.

Now I have seen a lot of kids films recently, Ferdinand, My Little Pony, Moana.. etc But this is so far under par that it should have only been a direct to DVD release if that. Very poor voice work, messy story, crazy amount of violence and punching that was not necessary in a child's film. Everyone involved should be ashamed of this mess.

Would not recommend at all, not even on Netflix.

This movie was nothing special. It is meant for little kids so don't be too hard on it but like most bad kid movies it has nothing at all for adults and will just annoy you with loud noises and actions that will just make you want to bang your head. The kids seem to think it was fine, didn't love it but liked it ok enough and that's really all this movie needs to be.

Just bad, all over the place. What's with the eye designs? I was watching this with my nephew and niece, and when I asked them what the plot was, they had no idea. The story is incoherent, with no sense of direction, and it feels like it was made to keep kids distracted rather than entertained. All the gimmicky stuff is just horrible - loud noises, random action scenes, and jokes that don't land. Even the animation feels cheap, with clunky movements and designs that are hard to look at. Characters lack depth or charm, making it impossible to care about their journey. Honestly, it's one of those movies you regret putting on because even the kids aren't engaged. Save your time and skip this mess.