| Noah's Ark | |
| Director: | Juan Pablo Buscarini |
| Producer: | Pablo Bossi Alejandro Cacetta Roberto Di Girolamo Juan Pablo Galli Giuliana Migani Ariel Saúl Camillo Teti Patricio Tobal Juan Vera |
| Music: | Andrés Goldstein Daniel Tarrab |
| Editing: | Daniele Campelli Massimo Croce César Custodio |
| Studio: | Patagonik Film Group[1] |
| Distributor: | Buena Vista International[2] |
| Runtime: | 88 minutes[3] |
| Country: | Argentina Italy |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Gross: | $6.8 million |
Noah's Ark (Spanish; Castilian: El Arca) is a 2007 Argentine-Italian animated comedy film directed by Juan Pablo Buscarini.[4] Based on the biblical story of Noah's Ark, its story is told from the animals' point of view. The film tends to follow the traditional story, with the animals being anthropomorphic.
Animals and humans personify the seven deadly sins: Pride (represented as a peacock), Envy (represented as a anaconda), Sloth (represented as a sloth), Lust (represented as a hedgehog), Gluttony (represented as a frog), wrath (represented as a baboon), and Greed (represented as an indigenous man). This results in their doom as they are killed or captured and taken to market (where the killed animals are sold and survivors are enslaved). God sees the market and its evils, and tells an angel that he will destroy the world. An encounter with gentle, devoted Noah, who purchases the freedom of an enslaved man despite his own poverty, convinces him to give humanity one last chance.
God appears as a heavenly light to Noah, telling him to build a large ark for his family and two of every animal to survive a flood. Noah tells his family, who thinks he is crazy.He sells his home for a flock of doves to deliver messages to all the animals, but all the doves except Pepe fail in the mission. Pepe is rescued from attacking animals by the kind lioness Kairel, secretary for the aging King Sabu and Queen Oriana. Kairel delivers Noah's message to Sabu, who calls an emergency meeting of the animal. Sabu's spoiled son, Xiro, receives half of the letter torn from a windows therefore misinterprets Noah's message as an invitation to a luxury cruise. Xiro is angry when Kairel disqualifies his cruise guests, and the tiger Dagnino hopes to rule the post-flood world's animal kingdom.
Noah finishes the ark, and the animals arrive. Kairel has been sent to organize and supervise the trip, but the herbivores demand assurance that the carnivores will not eat them once they're aboard. Dagnino says that he will punish any act of violence on the voyage. It begins raining, and the animals stampede onto the ark. Xiro grabs Kairel and brings her aboard the ark after his intended mate is crushed by a hippopotamus.
Farfan and Esther, who bought Noah's cottage, see the ark in the distance. Panicking as the water rises around them, they scramble onto the ark. Kairel tries to maintain order and convince Xiro to take his duties seriously, but Xiro flees to a club. He becomes infatuated with the dancing panther Panthy, part of Dagnino's cabal of carnivores who intend to rule the prey species.
After he gets the full letter, Xiro faces the situation and tries to govern. He grows closer to Kairel, but is still infatuated with Panthy. Below deck with the animals, Farfan and Esther disguise themselves as fictional a "grasswhopper" species to avoid discovery. Under a pile of dung hauled to the deck for disposal, Farfan, Esther (chased by Noah) and Noah fall into the depths of the ark. Noah's eldest son, Japeth, volunteers to rescue him; the injured Pepe cannot fly. Noah's sons break the helm.
Farfan and Esther knock Noah unconscious and abandon him. Farfan bullies the smaller animals and hits Dagnino, who tears off the lower half of his disguise. Panthy lures Xiro to her cabin, where Dagnino's henchmen use the disguise and tomato juice to frame Xiro for the murder of the grasswhoppers. Dagnino has Xiro locked in a storeroom, but Xiro's herbivore friends convince Kairel of the truth.
Noah regains consciousness and tends to Pepe before sending him out a porthole to find land. Xiro's friends free him and he confronts Dagnino, who has captured the other herbivores. Their battle ends when the ark, having drifted into the Arctic, hits an ice floe.
The animals panic again, threatening to flee until Xiro rallies them. Noah has returned to his family on deck, and they begin repairing the helm. God allows the angel to stop the rain. Xiro realizes that the pitch for the ship's torches will melt the ice, and the animals spread barrels of it across the floe. Xiro lights the pitch, freeing the ark. Farfan and Esther, believing the ark has run aground, fall onto the floe as the ark departs; they flee the hungry polar bears, who are remaining in their natural habitat.
Pepe returns to the ark with an olive leaf. Xiro and Kairel reconcile as the animals (including a caged Panthy and Dagnino's gang, stuck in a wall board) celebrate on the deck. God enjoys the festivities, but admonishes the angel for leaving the rainbow on; they bicker about God's work (the Bible) in progress.[5]
Noah's Ark was released on DVD in the United States by Shout! Factory on March 11, 2014, with an English track and a Spanish audio track with English subtitles. It omits several scenes from the original 2007 film,[7] mainly the scenes that were less appropriate for young children.