Moviezanddramaz

A Bloated, Misogynistic Disaster Called Animal

If Animal was meant to be a psychological action-drama, it failed so spectacularly that it might deserve an award for how deeply unpleasant and baffling it is. Clocking in at over three torturous hours, this film is not just bad - it's offensively incoherent, needlessly violent, and soaked in outdated, toxic masculinity that masquerades as emotional depth.

Ranbir Kapoor's performance, often praised for its "intensity," feels more like an overcooked caricature of what someone thinks a tortured anti-hero should be. He growls, broods, and bleeds - but for what? The character development is paper-thin, and every decision he makes is so aggressively irrational that you stop rooting for him before the first hour is up.

Let's talk about the women in Animal - or rather, the walking plot devices dressed as women. Female characters in this film have no autonomy, no purpose beyond either enabling the male lead's violence or serving as fragile victims for his supposed redemption arc. This isn't a throwback to old-school Bollywood; it's a full regression into the worst aspects of it.

The director seems obsessed with style over substance. There are so many slow-motion shots, loud gunfire, and gratuitous blood splatter that you'd think this was an audition tape for an action franchise rather than a meaningful story. The emotional beats? Artificial. The family drama? Contrived. The soundtrack? Loud and forgettable, much like the film itself.

Animal tries to be Kabir Singh meets John Wick with a sprinkle of The Godfather, but ends up being a disturbing, joyless mess with the emotional maturity of a 15-year-old who just discovered what testosterone is. If there was a point to any of it, it was buried under layers of self-indulgent direction and a script that mistakes brutality for complexity.

In short: Animal isn't just a bad movie - it's a cinematic red flag. Avoid at all costs.

Where to begin with this awful drama. The rating of 5 is only because visually it was nice to look at. That's about it.

The good actors could not save it from the fact that the writing is horrible. The misogynistic views of the writer are crystal clear, where the women are so stunningly dumb that they can walk away from a potentially great relationship into the arms of someone they have clearly shown contempt for (I'm still actually completely puzzled why, except that she's a woman and must be dumb). Or the women are just conniving home wreckers or rumor spreaders.

The only worthy character, of course, is the alpha male, who is so tragically misunderstood. All his womanizing and drinking was of course the result of a woman's betrayal. He stays stalwart even though there's a tempest of badmouthing, wishy washy, unfaithful women around him.

You'll think all the characters are mentally ill, maybe bipolar. Because of the stunningly stupid dialogue and behavior reversals. Let's not even get started with the really weird romanticizing of suicide as a test of true love. I'm actually afraid this will be a horrible message to young people in love.

Save yourself the aggravation. Watch something else.

I always begin my review for dramas that I give a 10 with this kind of exclamation: I RARELY give 10

I am a harsh judge (drama Alif deserved it for example). It's just that I just could not think of one single reason to hold back on this.

But wow this drama will shake you up!

Watch it, this is a masterpiece and a pinnacle of Pakistani drama in every way: the cast, the acting, the writing, the plot, the dialogue.

You will fall in love with the protagonists. Oh my goodness the mothers of the protagonists! You will be shocked. You will cheer. You will cry.

I will remember this for a very long time to come.