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Two by Two: Ooops...The Ark Has Gone

5/10

Stars: Voices: Callum Maloney, Ava Connolly, Dermot Magennis, Tara Flynn, Aileen Mythen, Paul Tylak, Alan Stanford, Patrick FitzSymons, Carla Becker, Lotta Doll, Franciska Friede, Tina Eschmann

Director: Toby Genkel, Sean McCormack

If for some reason the title doesn’t give it away, then the announcement “All the animals in the world have been called for a gathering” does.

The German-made animated adventure is hardly a genre classic but youngsters who like their cartoons gaudy, silly and attractively coloured should enjoy themselves, while accompanying adults might be well advised take a torch and a good book.

The original title Ooops! Noah is gone gives away the fact that the bearded master mariner is nowhere to be seen. The animals boarding the ark two by two are greeted by apes talking with posh English accents who show them to their cabins.

Unluckily for the colourful little Netstrian (a species known only to the screenwriters) heroes, Dave and young son Finny, they are excluded from (“If you’re not on the list you’re not on the ark” a bossy flamingo tells them) boarding and, left behind, and embark on a series of zany watery adventures during the flood before unexpectedly finding their true environment in the company of yet another unknown species, Finny and little Grymp Leah …

The highly colourful animation is adequate enough to carry the comedy (a bit of pooping is a guaranteed kid-pleaser), there are plenty of narrative cliffhangers and an effective enough subtext dealing with interspecies friendship.

Sadly, there is nothing remotely as comically creative as Ray Winstone’s millennia pre-London Cockney accent in Noah.

Alan Frank

Germany/Belgium/Luxembourg/Ireland 2015. UK Distributor: EntertainmentOne. Colour.
86 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: U.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 02 May 2015