The Sloth Lane

A family of sloths relocate to the city when their home is destroyed in a storm, setting up business in a food van and offering a strong family message alongside a slower pace of life to the residents.

Laura (Vergara) is your typical, impetuous, pre-teen sloth. In fact she’s a lot like her parents were when they were younger – ‘the fastest sloths around’ – who could get in and out of temple ruins like Indiana Jones and dance the night away afterwards. Laura is feeling suffocated under the current pace of her family’s life, but when disaster strikes and a storm destroys their home, the whole family must up sticks and pile into the old food truck to try anew in the city.

The city in question is Sanctuary City, a creation of Like A Photon Creative studio in Australia. Laura and her family’s adventures are the fifth instalment in The Tales From Sanctuary City franchise, and despite a bumpy start to the critical reception of these animated films, they have grown steadily in quality into what they are now. Sanctuary City is populated by a large number of animal characters, and with this being an Aussie production, the kangaroos, koalas and quokkas keep popping up around every corner to colour the humour and culture of the city.

When the sloths arrive they add their own Latin American voice to the neighbourhood, which brings with it a love of good food and an appreciation for taking your time. The citizens of Sanctuary City don’t know it yet but their lives are about to get a whole lot more flavourful as they sit down to relax over a quesadilla or a gordita or two.

Unfortunately, Sanctuary City is also home to Dotti Pace (Jones), the owner and evil-genius behind Zoom Fuel, the biggest fast-food chain in town. Dotti wants to keep everyone eating at her joints so she’s pumping her burgers full of Zoom Fuel, a kind of additive that works a lot like crack, to ensure her customers are jacked from their fast-food experience. When no-one wants to eat Dotti’s burgers anymore, because the taste is too terrible, she tries to impress upon Laura’s family that they should sell their recipes to her.

The set-up for Laura’s conflict is therefore fairly archetypal and the aim is squarely on a younger audience in terms of character motivations and the way in which the story is told. Thankfully, co-writer and director Tania Vincent stays away from the usual mania of other young children’s animations, and the focus is definitely on the message of family as well as identifying with the characters, rather than making fart jokes and breaking the fourth wall to do silly dances every fifty seconds.

The animation style is very cutesy and unlike what you’d get from any of the major studios. The 3D models have a feel to them of moveable Sylvanian Families figurines, with their fur having an almost plasticky texture to it. Once you get used to the fact that what you’re getting is neither Dreamworks nor Disney, the animation serves well enough for the story being told and the character models work nicely for the age demographic of the film’s audience.

There’s a lot to like in The Sloth Lane, from the strong message, to the colourful and vibrant scenes, to the smart, accessible script, and a few strong gags that the whole family can laugh along to. There’s plenty in there for everyone to enjoy, and even if you’re only watching it because you’ve got an eight-year-old sitting next to you, The Sloth Lane will keep you interested with its pacy narrative and wide appeal.

Having already had its release in Oz, The Sloth Lane is set to open in cinemas on these shores in the coming days. It is likely to do well as the cultural trademarks littered around the story should travel easily enough over here. How the film will do in America, however, where they don’t know what cricket is, and they couldn’t tell a wombat from a wallaby, is something that remains to be seen.