All Creatures Big And Small

This animated film was originally produced in Europe and released in Germany and the Low Countries. There it was titled, in the respective tongues, "Ooops! Noah is Gone." It goes by "Two by Two" in the U. K. and by "All Creatures Big and Small in the U. S. The DVD I purchased has the cover with the title in large letters as "GOD'S Little Creatures." The apparent inability of the producers to come up with one title may be due to the confusion within the film itself.

On the DVD cover, it has a quote from the Dove Foundation that calls it "a charming story of forgiveness." By a real stretch of the imagination, one might come up with forgiveness as a part of a mixed bag of themes. But I doubt any youngsters, for whom this film must clearly have been the target audience, would grasp that. Other promotions and reviews have referred to this film as a comic tale about the animals that didn't make it onto Noah's Ark, an animal adventure, and who knows what all else.

The big problem with this film is it's connection at all with the story of Noah and the ark from the Bible. Any kids in the audience who know anything about that story at all would immediately be confused. Either the writers and producers didn't know the Bible story themselves, or they didn't care if the story made sense. In which case, all kids who know the story would find this confusing to the point of distraction, and dislike for the movie. One doesn't like to think that there might have been another purpose or design of the film - that is, intentional distortion of a Bible story. Then one might wonder and question for what end or purpose.

As an adult, I found the mixture of fable, with the Bible story, and cute animation with fictitious animals to be dumb and dull. But, in some ways it does tell even young children that these are the "dumb" animals. Finny and Leah think Obesey is a slug. Finny and Dave don't even know their real habitat. Nor do Leah and Hazel. Apparently, the film didn't do too well anywhere - with the possible exception of China. I have no idea how much the Chinese box office was in American dollars or British pounds or Euros. But when a movie source such as IMDb only lists the box office take from China and nowhere else, I take that as a sure sign of a flop.

My three stars are solely for the cartoon work of the artists. I watched this to the end just out of curiosity to see if it had a couple of species of animals make it onto the ark that didn't have partners with which to copulate and preserve their species. That's the kind of question that would naturally come to mind for an adult - and even most children above age seven who watch this mixed bag of Biblical story, science, extinction, fantasy creatures, and cartoon adventure. And at the end, it's obvious that Hazel and Leah will be the last of the Grymps.

This definitely is not in the league of "Ice Age" and the number of similar and sequel interesting and entertaining animated films. Best not to waste one's money on this film, even from the dollar bin of dvds.

I really enjoyed it. Although the animation does not have the fine detail (fur, grass) of bigger budget movies, the action sequences, characters, visuals and the soundtrack are great. It is very fast moving and full of refreshing jokes and surprises. The creators of this movie must have had lots of fun making it. I disagree with some other reviewers - it is not your typical Noah's Ark story. Imho, it is definitely original, and not just in the main idea, but in many other aspects of the movie as well. I have not watched it with kids, but I believe small kids as well as many adults will love it. If you feel already tired of the Pixar, Disney, etc. style of animated movies, then see this one.

I don't usually watch dubbed foreign animation, but something about this film appealed to me, not to mention I had a free morning and money to spare, so I went to see it. It turned out better than I thought.

As the biblical flood nears, the father and son "Nestrian" pair Dave and Finny board Noah's ark alongside the "Grymps" Hazel and Leah. Unfortunately, Finny and Leah get left behind, and struggle to survive as the flood waters rise higher. At the same time, Dave and Hazel try their best to find their kids.

This film isn't exactly an epic tale, but it has its moments. There are a number of pop culture references, and a few jokes that genuinely made me laugh out loud. The story of the friendly Finny and the grumpy Leah going on a journey together isn't exactly a unique plot, but it at least makes the "opposites stuck together" shtick work, with additional comedy relief provided by the humongous Obesey and his chatty parasite, Stayput.

What stood out the most for me was the surprise reveal near the end. I won't spoil anything for anyone, but I will say I was genuinely impressed. It may seem a little contrived for some, but if you look back over the course of the movie, there are actually a few clues dotted about. It was actually quite clever, and not something I saw coming.

So, in short, is Two By Two a classic, blockbuster epic? No. But it has its own unique charm, and I can think of much worse ways to spend an hour and a half than watching this movie. Like the Ark itself, it manages to stay afloat.

Commencing the movie defense in 3... 2... 1!

I, like probably many others, thought this was a generic animated motion picture "for the entire family". I was so wrong. So very wrong. Not only was it not generic; it was way better than expected. After all, it was so good, I am giving it a 9!

Okay, let's start with the premise. It is very simple. A single mother and a single father are separated from their daughter and son (respectively), and need to get back together. The daughter is a hunter-type animal who works alone, and the son is a timid-type animal with a natural gift for building things, and a love for warm hugs. It is one of THOSE movies, with the moral being "we need to work together!" It is, as I said, simple, and not terribly original.

Now, the reason I give this movie a 9 out of 10. Despite the simple old-as-dirt moral, the way it is HANDLED is great. Morals take a backseat, while the front seat gets firmly occupied by the action, the gags, and the dialogue. It is like the movie team were given complete creative freedom to come up with as many interesting scenes as possible, and they done all of them. The timing of the action is great, the lines are great, the voice acting is great, and not a single "funny" moment felt forced (to me anyway, some people are much more picky). Actually, this movie reminds me a lot of Penguins of Madagascar, in the way it's structured (simple moral, but runs on non-stop gags).

The animation has to be mentioned somewhere, so might as well mention it here. It is really good. The only parts where I thought things looked "imperfect", was every time tree branches were used. This animated movie does not have the best looking branches out there. Wood aside, all the textures and atmospheric effects are perfectly fine. And in my books "perfectly fine" equates to "nothing being wrong". The animation itself deserves a 9 as well.

You are probably asking at this point: "But what about the Ark? What about Noah? How are those elements used?" Well, I did not mark this review as containing spoilers, and I am not delivering any. Let's just say, the way the "Ark" part of the story is handled, is the most creative way I ever it seen it handled in any movie. And I'll leave it at that.

I won't spoil the ending either, but I will tell you that I did not see it coming. That was some truly great cartoon writing, and I was pleasantly surprised. Now, to reassure you somewhat, I wasn't born yesterday, and seen and read hundreds of stories. I have frames of reference, and I have developed that thing called "taste". The ending of this movie was GOOD. Trust me on that.

Last, but not least, the movie's title. It was changed for every country it was released in, if I am not mistaken. And it is funny, albeit in a sad way. It can instill the wrong impression upon the potential audience (aka, you), that the people who made this movie did not have any idea what they did. I assure you, the naming problem in no way reflects the actual content, because the movie is great. After all, if it wasn't, I wouldn't give it a 9 out of 10.

Watch it. Now. Don't be afraid. It's really good.

Although not a musical it's a fun kids movie. The end takes quite a turn and is a terrific surprise.