No imagination here

Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang
Cast: Ashish Vidyarthi, Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: RD Malik
**

Spoilt by the excellent animation films presented by Disney and Pixar, Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang’s 2D animation simply falls short in the basic criteria of a cartoon film - lacking spectacle, fantasy, art and — most importantly — imagination.

Musical animated films are fine if the songs are catchy, easy for children to sing along to, and picturised in a visual extravaganza. Director Malik uses Bollywood-style imagery for the highly forgettable songs. And the script, besides being over-written, errs on the side of simplistic and is devoid of humour.

The biggest disappointment is that unlike Antz, A Bug’s Life or Over the Hedge, this film merely uses ants and their environment as a convenient setting without incorporating any research about the characteristics of insects and the wild world into the film. We’re left with a meandering plot in a Bollywood story about the warring red ants and black ants and a trouble-making meddlesome creature. There’s conflict, but no drama.
Thrown into the stew is a love story about a black ant princess in love with the black ant prince. But there is no great romance besides one shot of the red and black ant couple disappearing into a closing rosebud.

All in all, in spite of the professional voice artists, it’s a drag with the cleverest aspect of the film being its title. Let’s hope Yash Raj Films’ Roadside Romeo raises the bar.