[Movie Review] Norm of the North (2016)
Director: Trevor Wall
Writer: Daniel Altiere, Steven Altiere, Malcolm T. Goldman
Runtime: 86 min
Main Cast:
- Rob Schneider as Norm (voice)
- Heather Graham as Vera (voice)
- Ken Jeong as Mr. Green (voice)
- Bill Nighy as Socrates (voice)
- Loretta Devine as Tamecia (voice)
Review: by Faith & Marie
You may have seen the commercials lately for “Norm of The North” with the polar bear who sings and dances. You may be wondering if this is a decent film to take your children to. We will have to say there are minds have been swayed in different directions with this one.
The movie is fairly clean but not as entertaining as we would have hoped for. There was a positive message about being loyal to your family and standing up for what’s right as well as the importance of grandparents. The plot, however, is somewhat unoriginal and a tad boring, but will probably fly over the heads of most young ones. This story of a talking polar bear who longs to protect his Arctic habitat from a despicable developer feels pieced together from other well-known kid films, and when the stock nature of the storytelling becomes apparent early on, Norm of the North goes south in a hurry.
In a burst of introductory exposition, we meet Norm (voiced by Rob Schneider). He’s a polar bear; he’s bad at hunting because he’s got a weakness for cute-sad seal eyes; he likes to dance; and he also speaks “human,” which means he’s going to be the king of the Arctic – or so says his Grandpa (Colm Meaney). While searching for his purpose in life, Norm discovers a Frank Gehry-esque model home perched on an iceberg in his backyard, and the plan to turn the North Pole into the newest condo development. Norm decides to stow away to New York City to stop the humans from invading his home.
There is also a character in the film named Olympia (voiced by Maya Kay) that little girls may relate to. Olympia wears eyeglasses and attends a school for geniuses. She lives with her mom, who is the marketing assistant for the villain in the movie. The film gives a positive portrayal of working moms, and living in a single-parent household. Olympia’s mom, Vera (voiced by Heather Graham), is depicted as a good person working for a bad man. She doesn’t realize that her boss has ulterior motives.
The villain in the film is Mr. Greene (voiced by Ken Jeong), who provides comic relief with his long black hair, pony-tail, skinny jeans, disco shirt and beaded necklace. Mr. Greene loves yoga, chanting oms and meditation. The irony is that Mr. Greene isn’t all that peace-loving. He’s greedy and cares more about making money than anything else.
What We Liked:
The only cuteness out of this movie was the overwhelming glow that family means everything. That message truly was sketched across this entire movie. The lemmings always following Norm around was undeniably cute and warming. Also, the attitude in which Norm did his famous dance was slightly entertaining.
What We Didn’t Like:
There is so much “stupid” humor in this movie that did not catch our attention at all, but for a younger audience, any light-hearted animated fare will do, and that’s where Norm of the North comes in. It might take place in the Arctic, but Frozen this is most decidedly not. For the tots, the film is blandly inoffensive enough to offer some Saturday afternoon entertainment, but this isn’t one of those cross-over hits that parents can enjoy just as much as their kids. In our opinion, you are supposed to come up with children’s movies that the parents can at least sit through, because after all, who takes the children to the movies anyway?
Summary
It would have been nice to see an original plot for Norm of the North. It seemed as though they took little bits from other animated classics and tried to sum it up into one film that sadly was not the greatest. Indeed, nothing that Norm of the North does to get laughs feels original. It’s all been done before, and better, in superior films from the same genre. Norm of the North deserves nothing less than to be dismissed and forgotten. Ultimately, the film shows that family is what really matters in life. Norm of the North is an inter-generations story that includes a mother, father, brother, children and grandparents. Bottom line: Home is where the heart is.
Images Courtesy of IMDB
