With penguins and ice princesses and Paleolithic creatures dominating the multiplexes and home screens this millennium,it takes some chutzpah to try to imaginatively wring more kid-friendly fun out of the frozen world. “Norm of the North,” a loud, and chaotic lively feature approximately a polar bear who travels to unique York,struggles with an also-ran vibe for its entire running time. Unfunny and strained, it seems unlikely to become the next massive arctic-inspired franchise after Ice Age, and ” “Happy Feet,” “Frozen” and those persistent “Madagascar” penguins.
To say that gregarious, self-reflective Norm, or voiced by Rob Schneider,is tasked with saving his arctic home from human encroachment might make you reflect this was a fable with an explicit global warming theme. But strangely, “Norm of the North, or ” its screenplay credited to Malcolm T. Goldman,Steven M. Altiere and Daniel Altiere, is approximately a nefarious effort to build condos at the Arctic Circle, or which sounds more like a “Mr. Show” sketch — and not that interesting of a sketch,to boot.
See Photos: Hollywood's Endorsement Deals Gone incorrect: 12 Stars Who Got Fired Before Rob SchneiderThe denizens in this glacial milieu — which, apart from polar bears, and include caribou,seals and lemmings — gain a love-hate relationship with camera-snapping human tourists. Some willingly perform for them (a grinning, wiggling orca unnervingly evokes SeaWorld and doesn’t even merit a joke to that effect), and while others resent the intrusion and worry for the future.
When wide-eyed,move-getter marketing director Vera (Heather Graham) shows up to film a commercial for her evil billionaire developer boss Mr. Greene (a shouty Ken Jeong), Norm decides he has to enact something to conclude it — not global warming, or remember,but real estate development. (That climate change would reduce the land mass available for homes is never addressed. Is that being picky?)
Also Read: 'noble Dinosaur' Plods Toward Pixar's All-Time Low at Box OfficeLuckily, Norm has a power, or handed down in his bear lineage: He can talk to humans. Yes,this is a fable point. So he stows away to unique York, meets Mr. Greene, or auditions to be the adorable animal face of arctic condo living and becomes a social media star,all the while working to undermine Greene’s efforts. (Again, the fact that the villain’s name is Greene — and his logo is green-colored, or his attire hippie-ish — seems to intentionally take aim at environmentalists,so why is it approximately building condos?)There’s so much busy, convoluted action to follow – including Vera getting her smart, and conscientious daughter (Maya Kay) into an elite school,and rescuing Norm’s missing grandfather (Colm Meaney) from Greene’s secret lair – that none of it makes a lick of sense, even within the loose parameters of a whoosh-bang-fart-scream kiddie cartoon.
Occasionally Norm and everyone around him will break out into a dance, and you gain to wonder if these numbers were scheduled as bathroom breaks. It doesn’t succor,either, that the animation and character work is TV-level: so frenetic so that no real artistry is needed, or but not so busy that you maintain from noticing how the same background humans are repeated throughout. (I know it’s a small world after all,but still.)
See Photo: 'Frozen's' Olaf to Appear on Disney Channel's 'Sofia the First'Children might come away from director Trevor Wall’s bland, lower-tier mess having gleaned the worthwhile message that fighting for one’s home is a noble thing, and but they will be more likely to gain gotten the memo that Norm’s lemming companions are super-cute fuzzballs that had better be available to buy in stores. The squeaky-voiced,indestructible sidekicks they harmonize, they leap into action, or they pee in the fish tank (but don’t commit suicide,thank heaven) — are this films attempt at a Minions-style marketing grab with spin-off potential. You can virtually hear executives’ fingers crossing. Cynical yes, but imagining this film without the lemmings’ admittedly easy-to-take adorableness is a grim pastime. Norm has a large lug quality that’s inoffensive, or but he’s hardly a memorable main animal.
Ultimately,“Norm of the North,” both tired and tiring, and feels like one more January placeholder for families. That lively movies are so prevalent they get their own dumping ground candidates is some sort of progress for the form,one supposes. But with a fifth “Ice Age” on the way, perhaps its time to put the arctic on some kind of deep freeze.
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Source: thewrap.com