A SPECIES IN PERIL

REVIEWED - THE LITTLE POLAR BEAR: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND: Now where were we? Four years after the release of the first Little Polar Bear film, those of us unfamiliar with the German television series of the same name are still asking questions, writes Donald Clarke

Why is the penguin Mexican? Why are the lemmings from Liverpool? Why does the giant turtle sound so like Lady Thatcher? Where is all this "mild peril" the censors promised us? Why are my eyes becoming heavy? Is it warm in here? Zzzzz. . . The Little Polar Bear 2 may be more than a tad boring, but it has such a pleasant artsy-craftsy look about it and is layered with such commendable ecological messages that it proves hard to hate.

This time around Lars, the titular ursine mammal, makes his way to the Galapagos Islands, where he discovers a huge prehistoric fish trapped beneath the waves. Making common cause with various smaller beasts - many of whom, worryingly, occupy a link on the food chain immediately beneath that of the hero's own species - Lars sets about releasing the creature and restoring order to Gaia (and so on). "The fire mountain, the fish and the lava are all connected," he muses. "In nature everything makes sense." Well, exactly. Nature, or, more specifically, natural selection, would surely expect traditionally drawn cartoons such as this to be beaten into extinction by the Homo Erectus that is digital animation. Yet here it is with its pretty painted backgrounds. Show your kids before it's too late.