Animals United

Animals United is a 2010 German computer-animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed and produced by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe and released on October 7, 2010. The film stars Ralf Schmitz and Thomas Fritsch as a meerkat named Billy and a lion named Socrates, who go on an epic quest to discover why their river has unexpectedly dried up. It is based on the 1949 book of the same name by Erich Kästner. This is the second adaptation as the first adaptation was a 2D-animated film, which was also the first German animated feature film to be in color that was released in 1969. The screenplay for the film was written by Oliver Huzly and Reinhard Kloos. An English-language dub version for Animals United stars an ensemble British cast, including James Corden, Stephen Fry and Andy Serkis.

Animals United
German theatrical release poster.
Directed by
  • Reinhard Klooss
  • Holger Tappe
Written by
  • Oliver Huzly
  • Reinhard Kloos
Based onDie Konferenz der Tiere by Erich Kästner
Produced by
  • Reinhard Klooss
  • Holger Tappe
StarringGerman:

English:

  • James Corden
  • Billie Piper
  • Omid Djalili
  • Jason Donovan
  • Dawn French
  • Stephen Fry
  • Jim Broadbent
  • Andy Serkis
  • Vanessa Redgrave
  • Joanna Lumley
Edited byAlexander Dittner
Music byDavid Newman
Production
companies
Distributed byConstantin Film
Release date
  • 7 October 2010 (2010-10-07)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguagesGerman
English
Box office51,8 Mio $ (worldwide)

A sequel, Pets United, was released in 2019, which exclusively brought the sequel to Netflix.

Plot

In the Okavango Delta, the annual flood has failed to arrive in the Delta. The water has become scarce and the native animals including a herd of rhinos and buffaloes, including Chino and Biggie, fiercely fight over it. A grey meerkat named Billy and a lion named Socrates set out to find more water, and during their quest they enter a scary and dingy place called "The Valley of Death" and then are met by a rag-tag group of animals from across the world: a polar bear named Sushi, a kangaroo named Toby, a Tasmanian devil named Smiley, two Galápagos tortoises named Winifred and Winston, and a rooster named Charles, all of whom have had their lives ruined by humans in some way and have travelled to Africa. That night, Socrates tells Billy the tragic story of how he and his brother Mambo entered "The Valley of Death" and how Mambo was shot a strange poacher. The next morning, the animals discover the reason for the lack of water in the Delta: a dam has been constructed to supply energy for a luxury resort called the Eden Paradise Hotel which is for the Climate Conference owned by a man named Mr. Smith. The animals meet a chimpanzee named Toto who is the hotel's mascot, Toto helps the animals get their water back, however, a poacher named Hunter kidnaps Socrates, while the other animals escape.

The animals hold a conference where Winifred and Winston explain the deadly future that could be possible for animals. After the conference, however, Winifred and Winston pass away. That day, Billy and the other animals travel through "The Valley of Death" towards the dam. Hunter spots the animals and tries to stop them with a bi-plane, but is stopped by Toto. The animals then began to send a message by letting a swarm of locusts teach the humans a lesson for stealing the water by eating everything in their conference room, including their documents and their clothes. Billy rescues Socrates and they escape down a chute with the help from Toto. The animals chase Hunter and threaten to lower him to the den of tigers if he doesn't tell them why he blocked the water, ending with Billy knocking the poacher out. The water then comes out of the dam making everyone celebrate the return of the water and invite Toto to live with them.

Characters

Meerkats
  • Billy is an adventurous, clumsy, easily scared but good-hearted meerkat who wants to find water to drink - to collect which he carries a bottle made out of an orange gourd, complete with cork. He also likes to golf, drum and sing.
  • Bonnie - Billy's wife and loyal but concerned member of the meerkat family. She has tan fur and light brown eyes compared to her husband's gray fur and green eyes.
  • Junior - the son of Billy and Bonnie who aspires to do some of the things his father does, such as collecting water in a gourd.
  • Other meerkats - often tease Junior about his father's promise, but are convinced at the end.

Other animals
  • Socrates - A vegetarian lion with a scar on his face and Billy's best friend.
  • Angie - The elephant with blond hair tied in a ponytail.
  • Giselle - A reticulated giraffe with makeup on her face and blond bangs on her head. She is also Angie's best friend.
  • Winston - An elderly male Galápagos tortoise who has been alive for more than 700 years. He's 12 years older than his wife, Winifred. He dies shortly before the climax of the film.
  • Winifred - An elderly female Galápagos tortoise and Winston's wife who is also more than 700 years old. She and her husband die shortly before the film's climax.
  • Charles - The French-accented rooster who leads the other animals on some revolution against human oppression, originally served as food on a cruise ship.
  • Sushi - A polar bear who has escape from her home because of global warming.
  • Toby - A kangaroo with a obsession for canned beer.
  • Ken - A hippie koala who's been rescued after the outback on fire.
  • Smiley - The Tasmanian devil whom Toby befriends. In addition to his lack of intelligence, clumsiness and inability to speak, Smiley is notorious for his terrible flatulence, but he is also caring, friendly and loyal.
  • Toto - The chimpanzee who served as an animal test subject at the hotel.
  • Biggie - A red-haired southern white rhinoceros who fights Chino in a butting over water.
  • Chino - An African Buffalo who fights Biggie.
  • Bob - The aardvark who trumpets like an elephant.
  • The Leopard- A black panther who lives in the canyon.
  • Bongo - A maroon leaf monkey that works as a hairdresser for other animals and also poses as an oracle.

Humans
  • Mr. Smith - the tour guide of the hotel who initially cares nothing more but making money. At the end, when the animals have got their water back, his hotel goes bankrupt.
  • Maya Smith - Smith's animal-loving daughter.
  • Hunter - an unnamed selfish and unscrupulous poacher, the main antagonist.

Voice cast

German

English dub

Production

The film's production begin on November 22, 2008 and ended in June 22, 2010, animation was provided by the Hannover-based studio Ambient Entertainment using Autodesk-owned softwares. The film had over 1.5 million viewers in German cinemas. There were over 5 million visitors across Europe, including more than a million in France.[2] It grossed over $50 million worldwide.[3]

Release

Animals United was released in theaters on October 7, 2010, in Germany.

Home media

This film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the US in 2012 by Arc Entertainment. A Blu-ray 3D release in North America has not been announced yet.

Reception

Reviews for the film were generally unfavourable, with the aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 25% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating 3.8 out of 10.[4] A review in The Hollywood Reporter described the film as a "bombastic CGI-effort that aims at the big leagues, but preaches too much while entertaining too little to unite internationally."

Soundtrack
Animals United (Original Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released
  • 7 December 2010 (2010-12-07)
Recorded2010
GenreFilm soundtrack, pop, rock
Length40:50
LabelKönigskinder Music
ProducerDavid Newman

The soundtrack album for the film was composed by David Newman. It features songs performed by various artists, including Naturally 7, Charles Trénet and Xavier Naidoo. It was released on 7 December 2010 in Germany through Königskinder Music in CD and digital download formats, and is also available on iTunes.[5]

Track listing

All musical score tracks for the film written and composed by David Newman, except where noted.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Animal Paradise" 1:52
2."Golfing with Caca" 1:38
3."King of the Road"Naturally 73:56
4."Splish Splash"Naturally 72:13
5."Animals March" 1:03
6."Billy the Scatterbrain" 1:07
7."La Mer"Charles Trénet3:24
8."No Water" 2:17
9."Drumming for Water" 2:33
10."A New Horizon"Xavier Naidoo & Naturally 73:04
11."Socrates Tells the Story" 3:15
12."Move On Up"Naturally 73:51
13."Hokey Pokey"Naturally 72:26
14."Tales of the Humans" 5:43
15."Animals in New York" 2:16
16."A New Horizon (Vocal Play Version)"Xavier Naidoo & Naturally 72:52
Total length:40:50

Note: Roger Thomas of Naturally 7 provides Billy's singing voice for tracks 3 and 4.

References
  1. Konferenz Der Tiere at The Big Cartoon DataBase
  2. Conference of Animals in the LUMIERE database, accessed June 29, 2013
  3. 00&id=_fKONFERENZDERTIER01 Conference of Animals at Box Office Mojo, accessed 29 June 2013
  4. "Animals United Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  5. Animals United (Original Soundtrack) on iTunes iTunes Retrieved September 9, 2014
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