Animal Crackers Parent Guide

How would you react if you inherited a circus? That’s exactly what’s happened to Owen (John Krasinski) who has not only inherited his uncle’s circus, but also a box full of magical animal crackers that can turn any human into an animal. Owen’s also inherited a big challenge – another uncle, Horatio P. Huntington (Ian McKellan), who will stop at nothing to take the circus for himself. Now Owen and his circus family have to work together to keep the magic safe and the circus afloat.

After originally debuting in 2017 and spending a few years tied up in legal battles, Animal Crackers is finally available and has been picked up by Netflix for global distribution. The most notable thing about this movie is its all-star cast. For a very small production company, Blue Dream Studios really went all out on the big names. Danny DeVito, Ian McKellen, Patrick Warburton, Wallace Shawn, Gilbert Gottfried, and a surprising Sylvester Stallone all give amazing performances, rounding out John Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s leads. I honestly can’t say enough about how well done the voice work is. It really makes Animal Crackers shine.

Aside from the performances, the story is generally strong. The writing finds a balance between reality and magic that keeps the story grounded while also leaning into its fantastical elements. The themes are positive and easily digestible for younger audiences, namely the importance of family, generosity, and love, as well as the perils of greed and selfishness. There is a subplot about dog biscuits that could have been scrapped, because it doesn’t really add to any of the character development and slows down the pacing in the first act. The movie does feel a little long and cutting that subplot would have fixed that problem.

I do have a few minor quibbles. One being that the film includes two musical numbers done by McKellen’s character, which feel out of place in a non-musical. If you’re going to do musical numbers, you need to either commit to doing a musical, or don’t do them at all. (Not that I’m complaining about Sir Ian McKellen getting to sing about dastardly deeds of course!) Another quibble is that there is supposed to be a twist near the ending, but the set up is so obvious that I had guessed it about ten minutes in. It might be more surprising for a younger audience though.

Overall, I really enjoyed Animal Crackers, and so did my little one. After it was done, I asked him what his favorite part was and he said, “I liked all of it!” So that’s a recommendation from an adult and a three-year-old, a rare honor in this house.