A Sloth Story Parent Guide

Laura (Teo Vergara) tends to move quickly and act impulsively, character traits not often found in a sloth. When her family home is destroyed by a devastating storm, the sloths are forced to move to the big city with nothing but a rusty food truck and a book of family recipes. While her parents do their best to adapt to fast-paced city life, Laura is excited to find people who move as quickly as she does. And as the food truck struggles to find customers, Laura’s speed proves to be an asset…even if her impulsiveness puts them in danger of losing the business for good.

I suspect that many people who see the trailer for this film will be put off by the cheap-looking animation. It seems to have a slower-than-average frame rate: this might be intentional, designed to reinforce the sloth theme, but it winds up making the visuals look stilted. I am not going to defend the animation, which is unfortunately distracting, but I will urge viewers to give the film a chance.

Behind the amateurish visuals is an earnest, adorable story about the importance of family, balance, and living in the moment. Laura and her mother have a relatable and complicated relationship that requires communication and understanding from both parties. The family conflicts are realistic, and each family member is celebrated for their unique skills and personalities, while they are also encouraged to grow and improve as people.

The core story is really well done, and I think imparts fantastic messages to kids. The script does, unfortunately, fall off pretty hard near the end when the writers introduce a zombie-type storyline to hammer home the message about corporate greed. It’s completely unnecessary as that message is told in far better ways through other story elements. That part of the story feels like a-hat-on-a-hat so to speak and ruins the more subtle storytelling that works so well. If the writers had trusted the more grounded parts of the script and eliminated the zombies, they would have had a far more impactful end product.

With minimal negative content and fantastic messages, I do think A Sloth Story is a good choice for family viewing. It had the potential to be so much better than it was with a few more script edits and a different animation style, but it still somehow ends up being better than a lot of other children’s media coming from much larger studios with bigger budgets. Earnestness gets a lot of mileage in my books, and what these sloths lack in speed they make up for in heart.