animated kid's films have really raised the bar over the years thanks to pixar, dreamworks, illumination and other studios, to the point that it's hard to remember how bad they often got in the pre-toy story era. these days the most mediocre we tend to get are the likes of ice age: collision course: lazy and recycled, to be sure, but at least watchable. it takes a truly horrendous movie to make us realized how good we have it right now, and if nothing else norm of the north did us the public service of being that reminder. if lionsgate put any effort at all into delivering something approaching quality in this cheap, original, ugly and unfunny waste it certainly didn't show, because it's almost shocking exactly how many things this film fails to get right. to start off with, norm of the north is lazy as hell. the script from daniel r. altiere, steven m. altiere and malcolm t. goldman basically rips off the plot of madagascar (itself no great film) and reverses it while replacing the zoo animals with a polar bear. norm, as voiced by the one and only rob schneider, finds himself brought to new york city and has to exist out of his element. there's a vague notion of environmental responsibility, which is the sole good thing about this film, but it's couched in a lame villain who wants to develop the arctic as real estate. the animation reeks of low budget, sometimes registering barely above what you find on children's programming, while the voice cast is remarkably unsuited for voiceover work for the most part and it shows. i'm no child, but i imagine the gags are largely insultingly dumb even for kids. norm of the north was a financial flop and deservedly so, leaving this is the worst animated film not only of this year, but of the last few years with ease.