'SWAPPED' GROWS SWARMS * : STREAMING REVIEW SNIPPET

SWAPPED joins a growing wave of eco-fables, blending narrative charm, anthropomorphic animals, nature-based settings, world-building and family friendly appeal.

Swapped, set in a semi-fantasy forest where animal-plant hybrids live, is the third eco-fable in my recent memory.

Pixar's The Wild Robot, about a malfunctioning robot who becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose and a semi-protector of the animal island habitat, came out in September 2024. 

Pixar's Hoppers, about an animal-loving youngster who transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver and becomes a friend and saviour of their natural environment, came out this March.

Like Swapped, thankfully, not one of those films featured romantic subplots that ham-fistedly hinted at same-sex [or in these cases, interspecies]. relationships.

Like Hoppers, and The Wild Robot, Swapped prefers to focus on telling a good story without politics. I think we're finally at the end of what seemed like a very long era.

Directed by Nathan Greno [ Tangled, 2010 ] with a screenplay by John Whittington. [ The Lego Batman Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3 ], the story may seem unremarkable at first Otlie [ voice acted by  Michael B Jordan ] is a Pookoo - a small furry critter akin to a hamster or a beaver, whose inquisitive nature has been the bane of his species.

When he was young, his inventive mind compelled him to swim underwater with a makeshift oxygen pipe [ he was saved in the nick of time by his dad voiced by Cedric the Entertainer ].

Later, he tried befriending a young Javan [ a green bird that's something like a kakapo and a secretary bird ] named Caloo, who calls other Javans and raid's the Pookoo's food source.

Years Later, they are on the brink of extinction, because their rations and supplies are all used up.

!WOW! thanks Mohammad Kamran Jawaid.