Furry Vengeance is one of those flicks that is aimed squarely at kids. It is full of scores of anthropomorphized, CGI-enlivened critters which might be preternaturally brilliant and as smooth and cuddly wanting as a lineup of Construct-A-Bear bunnies. Add in a lot of goofy Brendan Fraser pratfalls replete with “help-me-mommy” deadpans and you’ve got a surefire winner, right?

Well …

What seems to be bulletproof in a story logline does not at all times pan out on the screen. And this eye-rollingly foolish pic is Exhibit A. Or at least Exhibit M. “A silly, imply-spirited little film that ranks down there with the worst in recent memory. Distant memory, too,” rants Invoice Goodykoontz in the Arizona Republic.

Positive, the nibbling squirrels and brainstorming raccoons might look cute, however their assaults on good guy Dan … aren’t. All of the crotch thumps, skunk sprays and garments-shredding scratches and bites quickly take on the uncomfortable-and unfunny-feeling of something like torture. And it is a slapstick torture that’s basted in a steady spray of toilet humor.

“My first response when I learn the script was, ‘Please, please, inform me I get hit with fowl poop,’” actress Angela Kinsey advised movieset.com. Though she may have been speaking with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Kinsey definitely got her wish. And everyone else will get to affix in on the wish fulfillment in a method or another, too. Particularly Dan.

In truth, though, the movie desires to do greater than drop glop and frequently bang away at poor outdated Danny boy. Produced by activist production house Participant Media, the film is designed to bang away at an environmental agenda drum, too.

Participant’s web site describes the Furry action this manner: “A band of animals battle the efforts of an actual property developer attempting to construct a brand new housing neighborhood in a wilderness space and find yourself teaching him a lesson concerning the environmental consequences of man’s encroachment on nature.”

In different phrases, Dan is battered and tattered until he finally has to limp into the general public eye and admit just how evil his job of building homes for humans actually is.

Environmental accountability is one thing. I take no issue with a movie stressing the importance of preserving and protecting nature. However the one-dimensional and heavy-pawed Furry Vengeance does not do the environmental cause, young viewers … or anybody on the lookout for moviegoing pleasure any favors.

Or, as Lisa Schwarzbaum puts it in her Leisure Weekly evaluation, “I am not convinced that repeated assaults to the groin, bee stings to the eyes, raccoon pee in the mouth, or skunk stink sprayed head to toe is the way to show ecological balance.”