Nestrians are odd-looking birds with a capacity for ace homemaking skills and glowing in the dark. But regardless of creature comforts, young Finny is thoroughly sick of moving around with neurotic dad Dave and longs for a less nomadic lifestyle.
Unluckily for Dave, staying put is no longer an option. A flood is coming. Thankfully, a big boat is on the way. But will the nestrians be on the captain’s list? And will mother and daughter grymps Hazel and Leah reluctantly provide assistance?
When the evenings qualify as a grand stretch, you can be sure the season for opportunistic, cheap-as-chips animations is upon us. And so, cruising into view on no less as vessel than Noah's Ark, Two by Two brings us digitised beasties and a plot that will seem awfully familiar to anyone who has watched Ice Age or Finding Nemo.
In other words, Two by Two ought to be this year's Tarzan. Except it has enough charm to carry off a little derivation. The animation captures such tricky things as fur and water very well. And the film compensates for Isn't-that-Scar-from-The- Lion-King? déjà vu with some genuinely original creations, including a giant parasite-inhabited slug voiced by Paul Tylak.
On that note: if you didn’t know before that Galway’s Moetion Films were involved in an international co-production that brings together animation imprints from Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and Ireland, the lion voiced by Alan Stanford might have tipped you off.
Two by Two was originally called Oops . . . Noah Is Gone. Neither title is entirely satisfactory. But the film makes for a pleasing family entertainment nonetheless.
