"Animals United" is a CGI (3D I believe) animated feature from Germany, with some assistance from other EU countries, and funded by a bunch of EU groups. Many new films are made this way, including "Missing Lynx". The English version of the film, made at same time as the original, has an all-star cast. You can read all about the film on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1620449/ , or Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_United.

The film did not find distribution in the US (big surprise), but will be available on DVD in April 2012. The reviews I have read of the film aren't great, with most reviewers agreeing "young children will like it", and some preaching about the film's preaching about protecting the environment and animals. We certainly don't want to be teaching kinds that sort of thing... This bit of "follow the Right-wing troll" behavior is getting really old (and it was always pretty stupid). But, that's not important now... this is about my impressions of this very furry film.

I liked the characters. The designs are more realistic then the Madagascar and Open Season franchises, being "cartoony" versions of real animals. When the camera pulls away to a long-shot, they look "real". The designs are cute and sometimes even sexy. The voice acting is very good, and the characters match the voices well. The characters and the overall look (art direction/design) were my two most favorite things about the film. The story, well... 2 out of 3... There are a lot of "main characters". Too many, really. A few short vignettes at the start of the film show various characters dealing with man-made environmental crisis that cause them to travel all the way to Africa, where the main story takes place. These little prologs don't really work for anything besides introductions, though. A lot is left unexplained and vague. The main character (main-main character?) is a male meerkat slacker (with a very cute/pretty wife) and 3 kits. He hangs out with a rogue (retired?) vegetarian lion, and usually messes up anything he is supposed to do, or just forgets about it, distracted by his desire to play "golf", or beat the drums all day. The BIG problem is that the river that provides the water to the animals area of the veldt has been dammed... to provide water, and power, to a luxury human resort. The dam is in The Canyon of Death, the lair of a black leopard (and comic vultures, of course). There is also a Hunter... who plays an important part in the lion's back-story, and is the OBVIOUS villain.

One of the running gags in the film is a human news reporter that keeps announcing the "167th Global Climate Conference"... or the 168th, or the 169th... Obvious the humans are just talking about the problems, and not doing anything about them. This is pointed out by the daughter of the resort owner, who helps some of the animals that get lost in the resort when they come to find their stolen water. They are also helped, though reluctantly, by the chimpanzee mascot of the resort. (the animals can understand each other, but they can't talk to humans, or course). The ensemble cast includes: our unlikely meerkat hero, his mate, his kit(s), his vegetarian lion friend, a beer drinking wallaby and koala, and a Tasmanian devil (who eats anything, only makes animal noises, and has killer flatulence (sound familiar? Taz-Pumbaa anyone?) ... all from Down Under, or course), a female polar bear (very nice), a mated pair of Galapagos tortoises (very sweet), a French cock (rooster), a red-haired monkey (Gibbon) hairdresser/oracle, A red-haired/goateed rhino, a punk water buffalo, a well-grounded female elephant (leader of the herd), her ditzy giraffe friend, the chimpanzee "mascot" , and the resort owners daughter. Have I missed anyone? Probably. The bad guys are the black leopard, the Hunter, and the entire rest of the human race, I suppose, though not directly. The central tale, which involves restoring the flow of the river to the animals home, is the closest thing to the actual story of the film, and every character has his role to play (more or less). However, the climax of the film involves the animals traveling to the next Global Climate Conference at the UN in NYC... inside blue whales. Yes.

One thing that really didn't work for me were the songs. Yes, it's animated, so it has to be a musical, right. The score was not bad, and there was even an original song... over the credits. The musical numbers in the film were all classic (American) pop and rock tunes, performed by reasonably skilled cover bands. Some of the characters sung, but mostly it was just background music for song sequences, though most of them were cleverly animated. I expect this sort of thing would work better overseas then in the US. It didn't work for me at all.

Pixar is known to say, when discussing the secret to great animated films, "Story Story Story!" I believe that means you need a Good Story, not 3 times as many stories crammed into one film, like in Animals United. I have seen rock and pop music work well in the Shrek franchise, but it didn't work in Animals United. The overall timing of the film, I have to say, was "European". I had the same problems with El Arca (though that was South American), and Missing Lynx (though not as noticeable). I wish I could explain what I mean by that term, but I really can't describe it. You have to experience it for yourself, I guess.

So, I watched the film, loved the characters, loved the "look", survived the music and story. I'm glad I watched it, and didn't consider it a waste of time. It's REALLY Furry, after all!