Extinct

Extinct
Original title:Extinct
Director:David Silverman, Raymond S. Persi
Release:Cinema
Running time:84 minutes
Release date:26 may 2021 (France)
Rating:
You have never heard of Flummels? Yet, these amazing creatures, as clumsy as they are playful, spend peaceful days on an island that has been lost for millions of years. Until the day when strange creatures land on their island: humans. Leaving their island, Flummels set off on an adventure and land in huge cities, discovering this curious human civilization and its pets. Will the Flummels let themselves be tamed by these strange humans?

Mulder's Review

Director David Silverman is remembered by millions of viewers for being a mainstay of the cult animated series The Simpsons and for directing several episodes and numerous short films related to the beloved characters over the past decade (The Longest Daycare (2012), Trumptastic Voyage (2015), Planet of the Couches (2016), Playdate with Destiny (2020) and most recently The Force Awakens from Its Nap (2021)). He also directed the highly successful The Simpsons Movie (2007) and helped direct Monsters & Co. His new animated feature (co-directed with Raymond S. Persi) on a script by Joel Cohen, John Frink, Rob LaZebnik allows us to discover a universe close to those of the Angry Birds movies with its endearing characters here Flummels.

 This disappeared hope looks like small animals close to rabbits and having holes in their center allowing them to turn into a wheel and thus to move very quickly. Ed and Op, brother and sister, find it difficult to fit in with the other Flummels as they cause numerous incidents in spite of themselves. However, a chance discovery will take them out of the year 1835 and into our present-day society in the middle of Shanghai, where they have many adventures in different eras and meet many animals, both of which are able to speak. 

It is easy to understand what attracted director David Silverman's attention in this universe rich in twists and turns and whose humor is constantly aimed at the right point, notably a scene that appears as an obvious nod to The Simpsons. In the same way, many references to the film saga Ice Age are also clearly visible and we see here the undeniable imprint of David Silverman on many animation classics and especially his will to continue to evolve and not be satisfied with applying sure values. Perfectly paced, this adventure benefits from a fluid and applied animation and above all from a scenario that will please both a young and an adult audience seeing here a certain caricature of our current society. 

While Disney Animation, Pixar dominate the current animation cinema, it is always interesting to discover great animation films like this film born from the collaboration between Chinese, Canadian and American teams. The result is an animated film that takes place mainly in Shanghai and allows us to immerse ourselves in a crazy adventure in which appearances are often deceiving. Extinct also benefits in its original version from a successful voice cast with Adam DeVine (Ed), Rachel Bloom (Op), Zazie Beetz (Dottie), Ken Jeong (Clarance). 

Extinct
Directed by David Silverman, Raymond S. Persi
Produced by Joe Aguilar, Matthew Berkowitz, Yanming Jiang
Screenplay by Joel Cohen, John Frink, Rob LaZebnik
Starring Adam DeVine, Rachel Bloom, Zazie Beetz, Ken Jeong
Music by Michael Giacchino, Mick Giacchino
Edited by Steven Liu
Production companies : TriStar Pictures, China Lion, HB Wink Animation, Tencent Pictures, Huayi Brothers, Tolerable Entertainment, Cinesite
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, Timeless Films (USA), SND (France)
Release Date : May, 26 2021 (France)
Running time : 84 minutes

Seen on May 20, 2021 (press screener)

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