There's a body of critical thought that maintains no matter how bad a children's movie is to adult eyes "the kids will love it."

It's a risky assumption and one that's severely put to the test by this Disney CGI effort that's too close to Madagascar and The Lion King for comfort.

Sure, there's a lot of kids who will probably love it...but not as much as they adore the likes of Shrek and The Incredibles. They're not that stupid.

In a virtual re-run of DreamWorks' Madagascar, a motley crew of animals - including the rampant lion Samson (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland), a cuddly giraffe and a cheeky koala (Izzard) - escape from New York Zoo.

They're on the trail of Samson's fed-up son Ryan (Lion King anyone?), who's been mistakenly shipped off on board a container ship to Africa.

The gang's adventures along the way include a run-in with a pair of rapping alligators and a final confrontation with crazy cult of wildebeests.

Will Samson learn a few life lessons along the path to a reunion with his son? Will the koala learn that volcano-dwelling cults are bad? Will the squirrel get off with a giraffe?

All these burning questions are answered in a random fashion via a movie that can't be faulted visually...but is a different picture when it comes to plot and character.

Debut director, the worrying-named Steve "Spaz" Williams, is the sfx maestro behind the watery-steel effects in Terminator 2, and perhaps that's where he should have left it.

Some of the stuff going on here is seriously weird (wildebeest as vicious predators?) while some of the voicework (the Asian pigeons) is an uncomfortable watch.

There's enough five-year-olds out there to keep the turnstiles spinning...but you can't see them getting that wild about it.

Tim Evans