Shortcut Safaari Review

Expectations

The moment sun shines high and all the schools starts with their vacation, our cinema halls are filled with films catering to kids. Big Hollywood studios release their animated or superhero based films so that can encash in this summer vacation period. Along with these big films, there are few Hindi films which are relatively small but at times have managed to strike right chord with its targeted audience. 'My Friend Ganesha', 'Hanuman', 'Chillar Party' and few more films have managed to make their mark despite of not having star power attached to it. This year the vacation period starts with 'Shortcut Safaari', which also has Jimmy Shergill in a pivotal role. Though, there expectations are very low as the movie has been in release process for a quiet time and the promotions are very low. But there have been times when the release period and low expectations have worked in favour of a decent film.

Story

'Shortcut Safaari' revolves around a group of children on their visit to a nature camp. While returning back, one of the car with bunch of kids gets lost in the dense forest. The car driver seeks out to get some help and leaves the children stranded in middle of the forest. All the children spend their first night inside the broken car but the next day starts to wander inside the forest. This starts a new journey in the life of these seven kids and their involvement with the nature.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The one line story idea is good and has a decent message attached to it. The whole idea and effort behind the film is commendable. Few scenes involving kids in the initial phase of the film are decent. The movie has few children related songs out of which, 'Piggy Bang' and 'Ek Dhara' sounds good.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

The whole execution of the film is not up to the mark. The urban kids are shown total dumb and keeps doing stuff which none of the kids from today's generation would do. Neither are they scared of the wild animals nor do they know that they have been stranded in the jungle. There are many abrupt and unwanted scenes which fail to gel with the flow of the film. The whole track of Jimmy Shergil is confusing as one fails to understand his identity or his reasons to keep them and the driver in their custody. The whole message in the finale, seemed preachy and boring. The camera work is decent but, entire C.G.I work is terrible. The computer generated hyenas, panther, etc are very bad and fails to match up to the standards of low animated TV series. The message fails to generate its effect and falls flat, as the movie ends. Background music is jarring. Jimmy Shergill looked good but his character was weak and unexplained. The kids failed to act but were still decent in their parts. Rest actors are not even worth mentioning.

Final 'Glitz'

The movie starts with a decent idea and has few scenes which will be liked by the kids. Besides that the movie seems like a bland journey full of boredom and silliness.