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| Norm the polar bear and his lemming pals |
When some arctic rodents walk off with your movie, it's probably not a good sign. That's what happens in the bland and predictable new CG animated effort "Norm of the North," which has been unfortunately assigned to a frigid January release, never a good sign for a new film. With help from his furry lemming sidekicks, a polar bear (Rob Schneider) travels to New York to stop a maniacal developer (Ken Jeong) from building luxury condominiums in the Arctic. Directed by Trevor Wall in his directorial feature film debut, "Norm of the North" is peppered with some cute moments, but is hampered by its one-dimensional characters and a thin, tree-hugging premise that goes nowhere quickly, making it feel much, much longer than it really is. Voiced with energy by "Saturday Night Live" comedian Schneider and "The Hangover's" Jeong, it's cute, colorful and mostly forgettable, and stolen by those colorful but indestructible lemmings, who seem to have the most fun in the same, crafty vein as those "Madagascar" penguins. Bill Nighy, Heather Graham, Colm Meaney and comedian Gabriel Iglesias add additional voices to this vapid animated effort, which is devoid of any genuine, laugh-out loud chuckles and any sense of purpose. The younger set may get much more out of "Norm of the North" than their parents, but even they may grow tired of it after awhile. A more appropriate release would've been straight-to-video, and interestingly that's where two planned sequels are going. Skip "Norm of the North" for something heartier, like a bowl of soup or chili that will give you much more flavor this winter than this tiresome effort.
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