Why shouldn’t fake creatures get in on body-swapping crap? I mean, humans do it all the time in movies, so why shouldn’t pookoos and javans, whatever the Hell those things are? And I dunno if it’s important to know this about Swapped, but it sure came in handy when my patience was stretched: none of these creatures actually exist in the human world. They aren’t just animated versions of creatures that do exist; they don’t actually exist at all.
Take the firewolf. It looks like a wolf. It acts like a wolf. And then it bursts into flames, setting the forest on fire with no residual effect to its person, er … wolfson.
Sure, it’s a cartoon, but I feel like the creators of Swapped were so intent on slander law that they didn’t even take on sloths or secretarybirds. “No, don’t call it a ‘sloth;’ You could get in trouble. Call it a ‘pookoo’.” Yeah, ok.
Nomenclature silliness aside, Swapped is a decent film.
You got this pookoo, a noob named Ollie (voice of Michael B. Jordan). Pookoos are cute small rodent-like things. And you got Ivy (Juno Temple), a javan, which is something similar to a wild parrot. And they live in this valley where magical body-swapping pods grow. The pookoos are in gathering mode when Ollie takes pity on Ivy, who cannot figure out gathering season for the javans. Next thing, those freaking javan ingrates raid the pookoo stores and Ollie is blamed for being nice.
Trying to fix his mistake, Ollie invents reflective glass or some shit which stops all the javans except for one, and he and the exception tumble down to the magical pod
growing level of the forest and, naturally, swap bodies. How does a rodent act like a bird, a bird act like a rodent and how do both avoid the maniacal firewolf?
I suppose first we have to find the elusive firewolf to be wary of it. It’s probably among that pack of treewolves. Yeah, those guys are part tree. Because of course they are. Huh, when they sleep too long, do they uproot? Is that an issue?
Swapped is a surprisingly deep story for a cartoon, with a fair amount of tragedy and pathos and heartache. The creatures are cute, but there aren’t wall-to-wall smiles here like you might find in other animated offerings. Be, um, uh, wary, parents. There might be some ‘splainin’ to do after a family watch. Naturally, I like this cartoon better than most for having a little weight to it, y’know? Will that be enough for you? Only you inner pookoo can decide.
There once was a pookoo named Ollie
Whatever that is, by golly
He swapped with a bird
A conclusion absurd
And reconciling this plot might be folly
Rated PG, 98 Minutes
Director: Nathan Greno
Writer: John Whittington, Christian Magalhaes, Robert Snow
Genre: AW, we’re learning stuff, aren’t we?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The imaginative, the empathetic
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “What the Hell is a ‘Firewolf’?”
