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THE MOVIE
I Am Not An Animal is a six part animated TV series about the adventures of a group of talking animals who are liberated from an animal laboratory and forced to fend for themselves in the outside world.
The animals were part of a top secret project, called "Project S" by Vivi-Sec Uk, that was commenced in the year 2000. The leader of this intrepid group is a horse called Phillip Masterson-Bowie (Steve Coogan), who is obsessed with James Herbert’s The Fog. His rag tag crew is made up of a right wing sparrow called Mark (also Steven Coogan); a dog called Winona (Amelia Bullmore), who is in love with Tim Robbin’s; a man-child monkey called Hugh (Kevin Eldon); a tech literate rabbit called Niall (Arthur Matthews); and an oversexed mouse called Claire (Julia Davis). When we first meet the group they are leading a fairly idyllic existence at the Vivi-Sec’s lab in a self contained enclosure, which is only opened when one of the residents is selected to "go to London" (a euphanism for being put down). The latest resident to be so selected and sent to London is an arrogant cat called Kieron (Simon Pegg). This existence, however, is brought to an abrupt end when radical animal liberationists arrive who destroy the lab where they are located and free them, despite the fact they do not want to be rescued. This forces the animals to try and survive in a world where they have few workable skills or coping mechanisms and only the thought that they must get to London helps to keep them alive.
I Am Not An Animal is a caustic and wonderfully sardonic comedy, which also has two very memorable musical numbers, from the depraved fecund mind of Mark the sparrow which are The Day My Computer Said Hello and Why do you reject me? The animation is very much in the Southpark tradition of a very basic visual image, coupled with strong writing and superb voice work by an excellent group of actors. The series was written and directed by Peter Baynham and animation directing duties were handled by Tim Searle.
For those who caught the series on the ABC earlier this year the DVD of I Am Not An Animal is an opportunity to re-visit one of the funniest shows to hit our shores in years while for neophytes it is an opportunity to explore and understand what all the fuss is about.
A play all function is provided for the six episodes. The menu’s for the DVD have been well designed and are all animated, which just adds that extra touch to the viewing experience.
THE TRANSFER
Video:
A generally solid video transfer has been provided. Details are sharp, colours are natural and grain is minimal. There are some artefacts present though. The layer change has been used to divide the episodes.
Audio:
The audio transfer is also a solid one (bit rate192 kbps). There are no lip syncing issues and the dialogue is clear and distinct. The score and other audio effects have been reasonably well rendered.
THE EXTRAS
There are two extras on the disc. The first is a making of documentary called I Am Not An Animal I am An Animation (25m 22s). This features interviews with Tim Searle and Peter Baynham and goes into the casting, the problem of the UK not having any real indigenous animation industry, the amount of improvisation used in each episode, and how they came up with the look of the show. The shows look was driven by the budget, which was very limited and as a result they decided to use a collage technique that cuts and pastes photos (some 30,000 were used in the show) with some motion capture of the actors who were voicing the various characters. Baby Cow animation who handled the animation for the show was only established in 2000 and it took a year to animate.
The second extra is audio commentaries for episodes entitled London Calling, Planet of the Men and Women and A Star is Hatched (episodes 1, 2 and 5) by Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan (who also handled executive producing duties on the series) and Tim Searle. The commentaries are not great ones as they all tend to talk to what is happening on the screen and there are noticeable gaps in all three commentaries.
Taken together the extras are a little bit thin on the ground but they do give you a brief if generally interesting insight into the making of I Am Not An Animal.
SUMMARY
I Am Not An Animal is a caustic and wonderfully sardonic comedy about the adventures of a group of talking animals who are liberated from an animal laboratory and forced to fend for themselves in the outside world. The DVD release of the TV series is overall a solid one. |
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