All Creatures Big and Small

I got this movie for free on Google so I didn't lose any money. I figured worse comes to worse it's boring and I can delete it and lose nothing. I was pleasantly surprised by how cute it was and it actually had a few jokes that made me laugh. Nothing new or spectacular about the whole "opposites have to work together" premises but it's tried and true so if it ain't broke don't fix it. I don't know what the deal is with people calling it Christian brainwashing or indoctrination, it literally never mentioned God or showed Noah (or any human for that matter) on screen. It's a movie about weird animals that find out how to deal with a crisis and have a happy ending. Nothing religious involved at all besides the setting. You could take Noah and the ark out of the movie entirely and achieve the same outcome. So don't let the rabid anti religious review (you know who you are) and the confusing evolution vs. creationism (you too) thing that cropped scare you away from this movie. Your kids will probably like it, it's face paced and the jokes and slapstick comedy are pretty rapid fire. It's a turn your brain off movie for children, not an art house flick.

I don't usually watch dubbed foreign animation, but something about this film appealed to me, not to mention I had a free morning and money to spare, so I went to see it. It turned out better than I thought.

As the biblical flood nears, the father and son "Nestrian" pair Dave and Finny board Noah's ark alongside the "Grymps" Hazel and Leah. Unfortunately, Finny and Leah get left behind, and struggle to survive as the flood waters rise higher. At the same time, Dave and Hazel try their best to find their kids.

This film isn't exactly an epic tale, but it has its moments. There are a number of pop culture references, and a few jokes that genuinely made me laugh out loud. The story of the friendly Finny and the grumpy Leah going on a journey together isn't exactly a unique plot, but it at least makes the "opposites stuck together" shtick work, with additional comedy relief provided by the humongous Obesey and his chatty parasite, Stayput.

What stood out the most for me was the surprise reveal near the end. I won't spoil anything for anyone, but I will say I was genuinely impressed. It may seem a little contrived for some, but if you look back over the course of the movie, there are actually a few clues dotted about. It was actually quite clever, and not something I saw coming.

So, in short, is Two By Two a classic, blockbuster epic? No. But it has its own unique charm, and I can think of much worse ways to spend an hour and a half than watching this movie. Like the Ark itself, it manages to stay afloat.

This is your standard Noah's ark story as the title may elude to (albeit the title varies depending on which country you find yourself watching the film). The king of the animals, a lion, announces to the other animals that a biblical flood is on it's way to wipe out all the life from the planet. There is a plan to save the animals as an ark has been built to carry them for forty days and forty nights until the flood has gone. The animals each have to meet with the acceptance committee to see if they warrant a place on the ark - it seems only certain animals will be saved and unfortunately for the main characters of this film "Nestrian's" (fluffy neon animals with big snouts that walk on two legs and excrete a cloud of smoke when they are scared) haven't been selected for safety. Rather than face the flood and sure death head on, the Nestrian father and son combination trick their way onto the ark with some Grymps (wolf like solitary creatures, walk on 4 legs and likes to get angry). The child Nestrian and Grymp wander off exploring only to realise that they have left the ark and have been left behind to face the flood. At this point of the film it turns into a journey story, the children try to find a way to avoid the flood water while following the ark and the single parents on the ark try their best to get the ark turned around to rescue the kids. The overall moral is teamwork because alone respectively the two groups, kids and adults, wont be able to succeed by working as a team they should be able to survive.

The story isn't epic by any stretch of the imagination as it's based on a story from the bible we've seen many times before, it mirrors other animated films like "Ice Age" and "Finding Nemo" but all the same its harmless fun. Fortunately the film doesn't try and force religion onto it's audiences it simply takes inspiration from a biblical story and goes off on it's own tangent using the inspiration as platform only. The animation was cute and colourful and while the story wasn't the most original the dialogue was amusing at times and there was a mix of gags that both adult and child could find amusing. The clever thing about the film was that as a cynical adult I knew that random animals with names I'd never heard of wouldn't be saved by the end of the film but there was a great twist which showed what happened to the animals God and Noah didn't save. Ultimately the ending is happy and my cynicism was slightly surprised.

This is a European film which has been released in various countries (as mentioned by the title variances) however there is nothing lost and the unknown actors doing their turn for the voices carry off the film with charm. There are occasional problems with the animation but let's face it, this was made with a lot less budget than your next Pixar film is likely to get and for what was invested this is a good way to spend a quiet weekend day with audiences of different ages. I have no problem awarding this 6 out of 10, not entirely my cup of tea but not an awful waste of time by any stretch of the imagination.

This animated film was originally produced in Europe and released in Germany and the Low Countries. There it was titled, in the respective tongues, "Ooops! Noah is Gone." It goes by "Two by Two" in the U. K. and by "All Creatures Big and Small in the U. S. The DVD I purchased has the cover with the title in large letters as "GOD'S Little Creatures." The apparent inability of the producers to come up with one title may be due to the confusion within the film itself.

On the DVD cover, it has a quote from the Dove Foundation that calls it "a charming story of forgiveness." By a real stretch of the imagination, one might come up with forgiveness as a part of a mixed bag of themes. But I doubt any youngsters, for whom this film must clearly have been the target audience, would grasp that. Other promotions and reviews have referred to this film as a comic tale about the animals that didn't make it onto Noah's Ark, an animal adventure, and who knows what all else.

The big problem with this film is it's connection at all with the story of Noah and the ark from the Bible. Any kids in the audience who know anything about that story at all would immediately be confused. Either the writers and producers didn't know the Bible story themselves, or they didn't care if the story made sense. In which case, all kids who know the story would find this confusing to the point of distraction, and dislike for the movie. One doesn't like to think that there might have been another purpose or design of the film - that is, intentional distortion of a Bible story. Then one might wonder and question for what end or purpose.

As an adult, I found the mixture of fable, with the Bible story, and cute animation with fictitious animals to be dumb and dull. But, in some ways it does tell even young children that these are the "dumb" animals. Finny and Leah think Obesey is a slug. Finny and Dave don't even know their real habitat. Nor do Leah and Hazel. Apparently, the film didn't do too well anywhere - with the possible exception of China. I have no idea how much the Chinese box office was in American dollars or British pounds or Euros. But when a movie source such as IMDb only lists the box office take from China and nowhere else, I take that as a sure sign of a flop.

My three stars are solely for the cartoon work of the artists. I watched this to the end just out of curiosity to see if it had a couple of species of animals make it onto the ark that didn't have partners with which to copulate and preserve their species. That's the kind of question that would naturally come to mind for an adult - and even most children above age seven who watch this mixed bag of Biblical story, science, extinction, fantasy creatures, and cartoon adventure. And at the end, it's obvious that Hazel and Leah will be the last of the Grymps.

This definitely is not in the league of "Ice Age" and the number of similar and sequel interesting and entertaining animated films. Best not to waste one's money on this film, even from the dollar bin of dvds.

It's absolutely a heartwarming and dynamic animated work that masterfully explores teamwork and friendship.

Set against the classic Noah's Ark IP, the film offers a fresh twist-instead of focusing on the heaviness of disaster, it generates a flurry of laughs through the daily lives of "atypical passengers." The humor is bold: at times, it playfully defies plot logic; at others, it hits the mark with characters' endearing contradictions. For example, when the clumsy yet overzealous main group messes up tasks, their exaggerated physical gestures paired with deadpan lines often leave viewers in stitches, even feeling delightfully "out of place."

What's more impressive is its solid character crafting. Every role stands out as a vivid individual with distinct traits-like the seemingly cold supporting character who hides a tender heart. This contrast between their surface personas and hidden stories lifts them beyond flat cartoon tropes, making them as relatable as people around us.

The themes of teamwork and friendship shine through naturally in the interactions of these multi-layered characters. From bickering to seamless collaboration for a shared goal, from letting go of prejudices to standing up for each other, we witness not just an adventure, but ordinary beings learning trust and responsibility amid hardships. This warmth never feels preachy; it gently seeps into the heart.

In essence, the animation wraps a genuine emotional core in a light comedic shell. With well-defined characters, fresh humor, and steady thematic delivery, it's truly a "remarkably solid standout."