Two By Two: Overboard

The now sometimes perfected balance of creating animated movies with appeal to kids and adults has been sharpened by a booming genre, but Two By Two: Overboard” falls flat. It delivers the whistles and whimsy for the kids in what becomes a bizarre narrative arc, and it seems underdeveloped for the kids and just a wallop on the intellect for adults.

The story concerns an ark in wild seas (no humans involved, and the chief is a lion) and there is appealing humour in that situation: Don’t eat each other! Circumstances grow volatile, and two juveniles are swept to sea. They find themselves in a settled society, and the race is on the to lead the animals from the ark to the refuge of a place populated by creatures with noses so grand it must obscure their ability to see. Subtlety is not a strong point.

It’s a bizarre movie, and apparently a sequel, so it must have been successful. But it feels more like a tv special with squeaks to amuse kids and annoy adults.

★★ ½