Just what I expected

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The acting in this movie was decent. Even the child actors did a decent job of delivering their lines. The script is a bit odd, though, as is some of the camera-work. For example, in some scenes the characters appear to be very far away from each other, yet they can communicate without shouting. Further, when each character speaks in these scenes, the camera abruptly cuts to whoever is speaking (which adds to the feeling that the characters are nowhere near each other, because the speaker is the only one in the shot). As far as the script, the ending is pretty confusing and I didn't realize the movie was over until I saw the credits roll. The director also spliced in many random shots of wild animals, which I guess is okay in a movie geared at kids. At least the footage of the animals is great. I also enjoyed the '70s-style dress and soundtrack. The dad's eyeglasses are awesome. Plus, at one point some kids put on a school play and their costumes all look like one big acid trip. The school play has some heavy environmental messages that would make Captain Planet smile.

I just saw this movie last night and while it had a noble theme running through it-'Be Kind to the Animals' some parts just didn't make sense. For instance, the main character, Erik, who is supposed to love animals beyond life itself, neglects to take care of the ones that he has. While Erik Larsen is not a professional actor, he had an endearing quality to him that helped save this picture from being a total waste of time. I must say however, that if we had a taken one more trip up "to the high country" I would have screamed like a woman! The movie went on too long and they should have should considered script problems. The best part-Erik Larsen was believable.