Today’s quick review: Animal Crackers. When his uncle Buffalo Bob (James Arnold Taylor) dies, Owen (John Krasinski) inherits not only his circus but a magical box of animal crackers that transform anyone who eats them. Using the power of the crackers, Owen, his wife Zoe (Emily Blunt), and their clown friend Chesterfield (Danny DeVito) revitalize the circus, at least until Bob’s brother Horatio (Ian McKellen) steals the crackers for himself.
Animal Crackers is a family animated fantasy adventure. The story follows Owen Huntington as he tries to choose between the circus he loves and his steady but unrewarding job working for his father-in-law (Wallace Shawn). Animal Crackers is a freewheeling fantasy with a genuine appreciation for the circus, friends, and family. However, a convoluted premise leaves the movie without a clear trajectory.
The strong points of Animal Crackers are its cast, its character dynamics, and its sense of wonder. All of the voice actors give great performances, especially Danny DeVito and Ian McKellen. The supporting cast includes Wallace Shawn, Gilbert Gottfried, Raven-Symone, Patrick Warburton, and Sylvester Stallone, giving the line-up some depth.
As for the characters themselves, Animal Crackers has what it needs. Owen, Zoe, and their daughter Mackenzie (Lydia Rose Taylor) are the epitome of a loving and supportive family, Chesterfield is a warm and playful friend, and Horatio makes for a suitably egotistical villain. The other characters are harder for the movie to calibrate, with too much screen time for some of the more outrageous characters and not enough for some others.
Where Animal Crackers runs into trouble is its story. Animal Crackers cannot figure out what it wants to focus on. One part of the movie is about Owen rekindling his love for the circus, another is about his rocky relationship with his father-in-law, and a third is a fantasy adventure about using crackers that turn people into animals to save the circus. On paper these work well together, but in practice, it just leads to confusion.
As such, Animal Crackers has a hard time finding its rhythm. Instead of a clear setup and a clear story arc to follow, it combines bits and pieces of other ideas. The result is still entertaining, especially for viewers who are willing to roll with whatever ideas the movie wants to explore next. But although it has a lot of the best features of a family film, it’s missing the crisp through-line to tie it all together.
Give Animal Crackers a shot if you’re interested in a colorful and comedic adventure with a dash of heart. Its story issues will ruin the movie for some people, and it’s missing the careful tonal balance needed to make its humor stick, but its cast and its enthusiasm take it a long way regardless.
For another animated adventure with a strong family theme, try The Incredibles. For a more surreal fantasy about a circus, try Mirrormask. For a somewhat more mature story with Danny DeVito in a similar role, try Big Fish.
[5.8 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4155534/). I give it a 6.5 for a great cast, a promising premise, and a jumbled story.