OZI: VOICE OF THE FOREST (PG) HHHII
One voice can start a choir, lift your voice up to the sky. One heart can change the world.
These sincere lyrics of Oscarnominated songwriter Diane Warren are heard twice during Ozi: Voice of the Forest and neatly underline an urgent ecological message that courses through the veins of Tim Harper’s animated odyssey.
Baby orangutan Ozi (voiced by Amandla Stenberg) has an insatiable curiosity about her rainforest home and is a handful for proud parents Jo Jo (Djimon Hounsou) and Seema (Laura Dern).
A fire started by a company called Greenzar, as part of its profit-driven deforestation, delivers Ozi to an orphanage run by conservationists Kirani (Marissa Anita) and Robert (Ivanno Jeremiah). They teach the orangutan sign language and her hand gestures are translated into spoken words using a bracelet strapped to Ozi’s wrist.
The “little hairy tweenager” becomes an internet sensation and embraces her influencer status alongside fellow orphans Peanut (Josh
Whitehouse) and Jelly (Kemah Bob). By chance, Ozi discovers her parents are alive inside a gatored community run by reptile Mr Smiley (Donald Sutherland) and his son Gurd (Rupaul Charles), home to animals displaced by Greenzar’s devastation.
Cheeky monkey Chance (Deancharles Chapman) and fiercely loyal hippopotamus Honkus (Urzila Carlson) join a defiant Ozi on her quest to reunite her bloodline. Boasting Leonardo Dicaprio as a producer, Ozi: Voice of the Forest is both heartfelt and heavy-handed but the outraged title character would argue there is scant time remaining for subtlety. Animation lacks the realism and detail associated with powerhouses Pixar and Dreamworks, yet vocal performances are solid. The rainforest is a multicultural melting pot. In cinemas now
★★★✩✩
IN ROMAN mythology, Romulus and Remus are twin brothers of noble heritage, who are abandoned as infants to die on a riverbank but eventually realise their destiny with fatal consequences for one sibling.
Fede Alvarez’s reboot of the sci-fi horror franchise launched by Ridley Scott in 1979 is also a twin. It opens shortly after the events of the first Alien and meticulously replicates props and production design elements including the creatures (xenomorphs) imagined by artist HR Giger.
The kitchen area of a spacecraft that flies unsuspecting characters to their grim fate here is an exact replica of the kitchen of the Nostromo from the original film, controlled by an updated MU/TH/UR computer mainframe.
Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and adopted brother Andy (David Jonsson), a biomechanical humanoid created by the Weyland-yutani Corporation, are determined to escape the Jackson’s Star mining colony before she falls victim to the same deadly lung disease as her parents.
Andy has been programmed by Rain’s late father to follow one directive: do what is best for his sister’s protection and survival.
Consequently, he joins Rain
on a mission to scavenge cryogenic sleep pods from a decommissioned space station called The Renaissance, which is orbiting their planet.
The mission is the brainchild of Rain’s ex-boyfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux), who has assembled a ragtag team comprising his sister Kay (Isabela Merced), cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and their tech-savvy pilot friend Navarro (Aileen Wu).
The treasure-seeking twenty-somethings are blissfully unaware that the abandoned facility is home to the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Alien: Romulus is a standalone chapter that reverentially honours a legacy stretching back 45 years and confidently melds practical creature effects and digital trickery to eviscerate human flesh at regular intervals.
Priscilla star Spaeny wholeheartedly embraces her role as the Ripley for a new generation, down to replicating tactics for survival.
Alvarez orchestrates frequent jump scares as the script skitters over timely questions about the role of artificial intelligence in mankind’s steady selfdestruction.
The greatest threat to our long-term survival is not acid-blooded predators that slaughter without mercy.