'Norm of the North' is not quite the worst animated film ever, and there are worse films overall out there as well. This is saying little, because 'Norm of the North' is down there as one of the worst animated films in existence and it's a disgrace to animation, it's that bad.
From the looks of the undeservedly high number of useful votes for the mostly poorly written (since when are plot summaries, repetition and hardly any reasoning enough to warrant one useful vote, let alone 100+) and useless positive user reviews, which have been proved to be fraudulent and most likely the work of one person or a small group of people using multiple accounts, this is not going to be a popular review despite being an honest and hopefully constructively critical one. This is not being ignorant, they have been violating, or at least close to doing so, IMDb's Terms and Conditions for two and a half years now, and it is disgusting that they are contributing towards destroying the credibility of a good site and it has been proved that deleting of reviews or de-authenticating/deleting their accounts is not enough to stop them doing it again and escalating, which is what has happened. If there are people who genuinely like/dislike a film that's fine by me, as long as the reviews are worth reading which means summing up strengths and faults thoughtfully and maturely without resorting to insults, inventing conspiracy theories or taking the "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude, which for some films IMDb reviews are solely lacking in at the moment.
Back to 'Norm of the North' and summing up all that's wrong with it, it is very poorly animated and wouldn't even pass muster quality-wise for CGI animation ten plus years ago. The colours are flat, the backgrounds are sparse in detail and lack fluidity and the character designs especially the titular character are ugly in design and stiff in movement. There is nothing memorable in the music, and it's intrusive, often annoying and doesn't fit the scene. 'Norm of the Norm' fares even worse in the writing department.
There is not a single good line of dialogue, joke or gag. The dialogue completely lacks wit and has no natural flow or rhythm, constantly sounding disjointed. The jokes are very forced and limply timed, with a complete lack of originality and maturity. Similarly the gags are childish and unfunny with unimaginative visuals. If one has to pick the worst asset to 'Norm of the North' it is the story which is a complete shambles. There is a distinct lack of charm, fun or heart, everything just reeks of cheap, it's paced erratically with a leaden pace and a jumpy structure. With the jumpy story structure coupled with parts feeling incomplete and a very confused tone that borders on the heavy-handed, the story is not always easy to follow, and is often incoherent even. Target audience is a real issue, children will find it too complicated, adults will find it stupid and simplistic and with little of interest. The message is a good one and is well-intended but badly ruined by being delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The dance sequences are random, out of place and scream of incompleteness.
Some have said the characters have some likability. Not to me, to me their personalities were not engaging or in depth (wasn't expecting complexity or three-dimensionality, but was expecting to be able to care for the characters) enough and some grated on the nerves actually. Some have also said about the lemmings being scene stealers, with comparisons to the Minions from the 'Despicable Me' franchise or the penguins from the 'Madagascar' franchise. For me though, those characters were much funnier, cuter and more charming, the lemmings were pretty bland and irritated more than amused. The voice actors across the board fail to bring much passion or fun to their characters, with a lot of going through the motions and over-compensating.
In summary, awful and a disgrace to animation. 1/10 (a rating that this reviewer has not given out since February). Bethany Cox
From the looks of the undeservedly high number of useful votes for the mostly poorly written (since when are plot summaries, repetition and hardly any reasoning enough to warrant one useful vote, let alone 100+) and useless positive user reviews, which have been proved to be fraudulent and most likely the work of one person or a small group of people using multiple accounts, this is not going to be a popular review despite being an honest and hopefully constructively critical one. This is not being ignorant, they have been violating, or at least close to doing so, IMDb's Terms and Conditions for two and a half years now, and it is disgusting that they are contributing towards destroying the credibility of a good site and it has been proved that deleting of reviews or de-authenticating/deleting their accounts is not enough to stop them doing it again and escalating, which is what has happened. If there are people who genuinely like/dislike a film that's fine by me, as long as the reviews are worth reading which means summing up strengths and faults thoughtfully and maturely without resorting to insults, inventing conspiracy theories or taking the "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude, which for some films IMDb reviews are solely lacking in at the moment.
Back to 'Norm of the North' and summing up all that's wrong with it, it is very poorly animated and wouldn't even pass muster quality-wise for CGI animation ten plus years ago. The colours are flat, the backgrounds are sparse in detail and lack fluidity and the character designs especially the titular character are ugly in design and stiff in movement. There is nothing memorable in the music, and it's intrusive, often annoying and doesn't fit the scene. 'Norm of the Norm' fares even worse in the writing department.
There is not a single good line of dialogue, joke or gag. The dialogue completely lacks wit and has no natural flow or rhythm, constantly sounding disjointed. The jokes are very forced and limply timed, with a complete lack of originality and maturity. Similarly the gags are childish and unfunny with unimaginative visuals. If one has to pick the worst asset to 'Norm of the North' it is the story which is a complete shambles. There is a distinct lack of charm, fun or heart, everything just reeks of cheap, it's paced erratically with a leaden pace and a jumpy structure. With the jumpy story structure coupled with parts feeling incomplete and a very confused tone that borders on the heavy-handed, the story is not always easy to follow, and is often incoherent even. Target audience is a real issue, children will find it too complicated, adults will find it stupid and simplistic and with little of interest. The message is a good one and is well-intended but badly ruined by being delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The dance sequences are random, out of place and scream of incompleteness.
Some have said the characters have some likability. Not to me, to me their personalities were not engaging or in depth (wasn't expecting complexity or three-dimensionality, but was expecting to be able to care for the characters) enough and some grated on the nerves actually. Some have also said about the lemmings being scene stealers, with comparisons to the Minions from the 'Despicable Me' franchise or the penguins from the 'Madagascar' franchise. For me though, those characters were much funnier, cuter and more charming, the lemmings were pretty bland and irritated more than amused. The voice actors across the board fail to bring much passion or fun to their characters, with a lot of going through the motions and over-compensating.
In summary, awful and a disgrace to animation. 1/10 (a rating that this reviewer has not given out since February). Bethany Cox