Following in the footsteps of The Lion King and the Ice Age and Madagascar movies, South African computer-animated comedy-adventure Khumba: A Zebra’s Tale dispatches another bunch of cute talking animals on a life-changing quest. This time the hero is an outcast half-striped zebra, who hopes to earn his missing stripes by finding a magical pool and naturally has a pair of oddball travelling companions on his journey – a motherly wildebeest (Loretta Devine) and a garrulous camp ostrich (Richard E Grant, irritating). The animation is vibrant and the voice cast impressive – Liam Neeson purrs menacingly as the leopard villain, Catherine Tate’s sheep is engagingly bonkers, and Steve Buscemi and Laurence Fishburne put in appearances, too. So it’s a great shame that the animators and actors are let down by the meandering plot and trite dialogue.
Certificate U. Runtime 85 mins. Director Anthony Silverston.
Released on Blu-ray & DVD on Monday 28th July by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.
To activate the sound in the trailer: hold your cursor over the screen to reveal the control panel and click on the volume control in the bottom right-hand corner.
