Ainbo

The initial premise of the movie is decent enough and the for the first 20 minutes or so I thought this would get a 7. Points however dropped the longer the movie went on.

The story is a run-off-the-mill quest story made for children, plenty of things make no sense and especially in the second half it is all over the place. You can clearly see the influence from Disney/Pixar but it doesn't go any further than copying ideas without actually bothering if it makes sense storywise.

One of the worst parts, and one that annoyed me to no end, is that the main protagonist, Ainbo, never seems to solve any of the problems she faces. It's always the sidekicks that provide the answer (a blatant Timon and Pumbaa rip-off up to the point where they literally copied classic Lion King shots), or Deus ex Machina "Magic" explanations.

It's somewhat frustrating as a dad to bring your girl to a movie where a girl is the "hero" only to see that she, at no point, is able to do things herself. Even when she faces the big evil she just gets handed the right tools with no real explanation.

This movie had potential if they invested a bit more time in developing a decent story and character arc. As it stands: if you want an eco-friendly story about the rainforest: Ferngully is head and shoulders above this.