Overwhelmed by his Kingly duties, Norm struggles to make time for both his kingdom and his family. But when his crown is mysteriously stolen in the dead of the night, Norm must embark on an epic journey — disguised as a family vacation. Norm sets out to track down the thief and find his crown and learns the valuable lesson that by working together as a family, nothing is impossible.
This animated film is the third in a series of computer-animated comedy-adventure films following a polar bear, Norm, and his family and Arctic friends and associates. The first film, “Norm of the North,” was released in 2016, produced by Splash Entertainment and distributed by Lionsgate, and was followed by “Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom.” This third installment, much like the previous two, appeals more to very young children who enjoy slapstick physical comedy over messages. Box office for the first two belied their lackluster reviews, with each nearly doubling respective budgets. “Norm of the North: Family Vacation” seems destined to follow in their footsteps, at least in the review department.
The “family vacation” referred to by the title is a total accident and involves a stolen crown, two ineffective dads, ships made of ice and a Disney-like wonderland in China. Yeah, lots of stretches of the imagination, but five-year-old kids are experts at that. The film, unfortunately, is filled with gender stereotyping: dads are doofuses, moms are smart but can’t let their husbands know that and the guys are the ones that figure everything out and save the day.
The main theme, that dads spend too much time focused on work and not enough on family, is a good one. However, we don’t see dad “man up” and say “Enough!” but rather he must bumble through the entire film before he finally gains his senses and some testosterone. The bumbling involves a lot of crashing, breaking, shattering, cracking, and falling as could be predicted.
The animation is not terribly inventive and lacks dimension. Ditto the music. Basically, the film follows a cookie-cutter outline established by the first, and one which will undoubtedly serve for at least another installment. For this current entry in the “Norm of the North” adventures, I would have to give only 1 star. It does have an introduction and a resolution of sorts. That has to count for something.
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