The Little Polar Bear: The Mysterious Island review

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

"In nature, everything makes sense," says a geriatric turtle in this follow-up to the 2001 German-produced original 'toon. If only that applied to this anodyne kids' pic, whose incident-packed, globe-trotting script seems to have been translated by someone with a scarce acquaintance with English.

Preaching a politically correct eco-message that will insult the intelligence of even its ankle-biting audience, Polar 2 finds its ursine hero Lars transported to the sultry Galapagos Islands to save a prehistoric fish monster from some gormless American explorers and some baby turtle eggs from an exploding volcano. Sketched in lo-fi line animation a million miles from Pixar, the film will have most viewers empathising with the seal cub who cries, "Pinch me and tell me this is not happening!"

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.