Ozi: Voice Of The Forest (PG)

Baby orangutan Ozi is orphaned by a man-made fire started by palm oil behemoth Greenzar as part of its profit-driven deforestation. The blaze delivers Ozi to an orphanage run by conservationists Kirani and Robert, who teach the traumatised orangutan sign language. The "little hairy tweenager" becomes an internet sensation and embraces her influencer status to expose Greenzar's shameful practices in the company of cheeky monkey Chance and fiercely loyal hippopotamus Honkus.

LondonNet Film Review

Ozi: Voice Of The Forest (PG) Film Review from LondonNet

One voice can start a choir, lift your voice up to the sky. One heart can change the world. The sincere lyrics of Oscar-nominated 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. Screenwriter Ricky Roxburgh repeatedly addresses younger audiences as harbingers of meaningful change, most bluntly when an older orangutan pleads with his daughter to forget about the destruction she has witnessed and retreat into blissful ignorance inside a man-made dome where animal sounds are piped through speakers. “It’s not happening here, it’s not happening to us. Best not get involved,” urges the elder…

Social media is actively harnessed by the eponymous orangutan to draw attention to fictional palm oil behemoth Greenzar, which wages a PR war using a cute cartoon tree named Mr Palm (voiced by David Dawson), professing to plant two new trees for every one felled on the other side of the world. It sounds too good to be true. Animation lacks the realism and detail associated with powerhouses Pixar and DreamWorks, particularly in sequences set in and around water.

Harper’s picture overcomes obvious technical limitations to speak plainly to its target demographic and pointedly displays University of Reading Professor Ed Hawkins’ climate stripes over the end credits, which visualise the progressive heating of our planet from 1850 to 2021 as a single bar of vertical coloured swatches.

Baby orangutan Ozi (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 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 traumatised 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 poop-slinging orphans Peanut (Josh Whitehouse) and Jelly (Kemah Bob). By chance, Ozi discovers her parents are alive inside a gatored community run by hulking reptile Mr Smiley (Donald Sutherland) and his flamboyant son Gurd (RuPaul Charles), home to animals displaced by Greenzar’s devastation. Cheeky monkey Chance (Dean-Charles 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. Vocal performances are solid with lightly effervescent comic relief. Chapman’s rebellious ape sounds like Russell Brand in a few lively exchanges. The rainforest is a multicultural melting pot.

– Kim Hu