Review: Animals United (U) **

There is nothing subtle about Oliver Huzly's screenplay, which loudly bangs the ecological drum.

A giant turtle laments the death of her home, choked by a sea of thick, black oil, and decries the bloodthirsty, awful creatures known as humans.

"Man is a thief who comes in the night and takes what he wants," she warns as the screen is filled with images of impending doom.

Thankfully, the animals will not stand by as we destroy the planet.

Klooss and Tappe open with a whistle-stop tour of the globe, introducing their protagonists.

In the Arctic Ocean, a polar bear called Sushi (Bella Hudson) watches as the ice caps melt, while in the galley of a passing ship, French rooster Charles (Andy Serkis) escapes from a knife-wielding chef who cackles, "Soon you'll be braising in a good burgundy!"

On the Galapagos Islands, turtles Winston (Jim Broadbent) and Winifred (Vanessa Redgrave) celebrate their 714th wedding anniversary as an oil tanker runs aground, while in Australia, kangaroo Toby (Jason Donovan) and a Tasmanian devil called Smiley survive a bush fire.

This ragtag band of critters ends up in the Okavango Delta, where the local wildlife waits patiently every year for the waters which nourish the valley.

When the deluge fails to materialise, Billy the forgetful meerkat (James Corden) and his best friend Socrates the lion (Stephen Fry) embark on an epic quest to find water and prove to Billy's son Junior (Mischa Goodman) that his old man is just as valiant as the larger animals on the plain.

En route, Billy and Socrates befriend the exiles from other continents and together they search for the source of the water that is the very lifeblood of the Kalahari Desert.

Animals United lacks the visual sophistication and breathtaking realism of Pixar and DreamWorks' recent animated offerings.

Water doesn't flow convincingly and some of the set pieces are borrowed from earlier pictures, including Socrates's trek into an elephants' graveyard (The Lion King) and the massive caravan of animals in search of hope (Ice Age).

Humour, what little there is, skews towards younger audiences including a protracted sequence in which Billy plays a version of golf with a ball of sun-hardened "hyena poo poo".

Vocal performances lack energy, matching the pedestrian pacing of the rest of the film, which builds to a perplexing finale in which the creatures take their argument to the United Nations.

On general release