Two by Two

Story

Two by Two tells the biblical flood story from an animal perspective. Lion (voice of Alan Stanford), the King of the Jungle, brings the animals together and tells them that a flood is about to destroy the world. Lion says that a kind man named Noah has built an ark and that the animals must all check whether they’re registered on the list of animals to be saved.Dave (voice of Dermot Magennis) and his son Finny (voice of Callum Maloney) are loveable and adaptable creatures called nestrians, who discover they’re not on the list. Desperate to save his son, Dave disguises them both as grymps so they can sneak on board. They’re housed with real grymps, mother Hazel (voice of Tara Flynn) and daughter Leah (voice of Ava Connolly), who are nasty and unfriendly. Leah and Finny go off to explore, but a huge wave hits and they discover they’re on the wharf. They desperately try to get back on the ark but they can’t.Finny and Leah race against time to reach higher ground before they’re engulfed by water. Along the way they meet a giant slug called Obesey and a parasite called Stayput, whom they help to reach higher ground. They’re threatened by flying creatures called griffins, who want to eat them. Meanwhile on the ark, Dave and Hazel must work together to save their children.

Themes

The end of the world; predatory behaviour

Violence

Two by Two has some violence. For example:

Lion says that carnivores aren’t allowed to eat herbivores, so a leopard throws down a creature it was about to eat.
A gorilla grabs Hazel by the throat and says she’d better leave before things get ugly. She says he’s already ugly.
Hazel grabs Dave by the throat and says, ‘We don’t save lives – we take them’.
Leah and Finny are about to fall in the water when they’re grabbed by the griffins, who are scary flying creatures. The griffins get ready to eat Leah and Finny, but Finny blows blue gas over one griffin and Leah bites the other. They both fall to the ground.
Hazel imagines a computer game where she fights her way up to Lion, punching the gorillas on her way.
Hazel attacks Lion with a pole and knocks him unconscious.
The griffins are scary creatures who are always trying to catch and eat Leah and Finny. They swoop at them many times.
Lion swipes Dave away with his paw and grabs Hazel by the throat.
Obesey turns into a whale and eats the Griffins.

Sexual references

None of concern

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Coarse language

Two by Two has some name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Two by Two is a colourful, animated movie about the biblical flood from an animal perspective.

The ‘end of the world’ theme might disturb children, and the scene that shows the escape from the rising waters is quite intense. There are also several violent scenes and scary characters. Therefore we don’t recommend Two by Two for children under 5 years, and we do recommend parental guidance for children aged 5-8 years.

The main messages from Two by Two are that everyone has a place and that together we can achieve more than we can as individuals.

But the movie also has some conflicting messages, which might be confusing for children. For example, the nestrians are good and loveable creatures, but they’re rejected from the ark. In contrast, the grymps are selfish and nasty creatures who only look after themselves, but they’re allowed on the ark. At the end of the movie, the nestrians become sea creatures, but young children must not understand the meaning of this.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, caring, kindness and collaboration.