Michael's Movie Grade: B-
A really fun, if not exactly memorable animated comedy.
This animated comedy follows a bounty hunter pig, who is supposed to deliver an elephant back to her abusive owner. However something unexpected happens along the way, the pig becomes friends with the elephant he is supposed to return. While this story follows every story beat you might expect, there is a real charm to it. That is because underneath all the over-the-top comedy, the filmmakers truly care truly care about these characters. The budding friendship between Hitpig and Pickles the elephant is really heartfelt and even a little touching. Though you may see them coming the sentimental moments feel earned instead of forced. Our main characters may not be complex, but they are likable and sometimes that is the most important thing. It also helps that the movie moves at a fast breezy pace and never once gets boring. The animation is surprising quite good here. While being from a small studio, it may not be at same level as a Disney film, the animation is always very pleasing to look at and its budgetary limitations are not as obvious as one might expect. The design work also helps give this movie a quirky and fun look. Making this movie even more delightful is wonderful voice acting from a top-notch cast.
Like most animated feature films today, this movie is filled with almost constant gags. Because of this the jokes can be really hit and miss. This film can be really funny, but there are also plenty of gags that fall completely flat. The fart jokes can especially feel lazy and forced.
This movie also has a problem with too many bland supporting characters. Also while I appreciated and agree with this film's message about animal rights, I did feel it was told in an unsubtle and heavy-handed way.
This film was directed by Cinzia Angelini and David Feiss. This is the first feature film directed by Cinzia Angelini. However she has worked as an animator for such major studios as DreamWorks (The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), Shrek 2 (2004), Madagascar (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010)) and Disney (Meet the Robinsons (2007), Bolt (2008)) and Pixar (Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010)). She even did CGI for one of the all-time best superhero movies, Spider-Man 2 (2004). David Feiss directed many episodes of the 1990's Hanna-Barbera animated shows, Cow and Chicken and I am Weasel. As a storyboard artist he worked on such feature films as Open Season (2006), Rango (2011), Despicable Me 2 (2013), Free Birds (2013), Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Minions (2015), Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), Despicable Me 3 (2017), The Adams Family 2 (2021), Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and Despicable Me 4 (2024).
Though its familiarity may make this not exactly a memorable film, this is a charming and fun movie that is a delight for animation fans.
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