Norm of the North — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Plot

Norm, a polar bear, is the son of the King of the Arctic. In his youth, he realizes his ability to speak to humans, a trait shared only by his grandfather. Because of this, he is made an outcast from the other animals, only being accepted by Socrates, a wise seagull, and Elizabeth, a female polar bear whom Norm is in love with.

Years later, Norm's grandfather has disappeared, and human tourists are filling the Arctic. Socrates shows Norm and three Arctic lemmings a luxury condo that has been installed on the ice. Inside this condo is Vera, a representative for wealthy developer Mr. Greene. After Vera is saved by Norm from an avalanche, Mr. Greene calls her to find a polar bear mascot for their commercial, campaigning to sell houses at the Arctic. Alarmed, Socrates convinces Norm and the lemmings to stow away on a ship to New York City.

In the city, Norm, pretending to be an actor dressed as a polar bear, auditions for Mr. Greene's commercial and is taken to dinner by Vera. Mr. Greene, who realizes that Norm is a real bear, suspects that Norm has come to free his grandfather, whom he has captured. He confronts him at the restaurant with a tranquilizer gun, but Norm subdues him. After the outburst garners the media's attention and heightens Mr. Greene's approval ratings, however, he decides to hire Norm as his mascot.

Before going on a television show, Norm meets Vera's genius daughter Olympia, who knows that Norm is a real bear, and advises him to wait for the right moment to speak out against Mr. Greene and his campaign so he can save the Arctic. Norm's popularity further increases the approval ratings, but his plan is sabotaged by Mr. Greene, who uses recorded dialogue to claim that Norm supports his developments.

Defeated, Norm is comforted by Vera and Olympia, who reveal that Mr. Greene is developing more homes to install in the Arctic. He and the lemmings discover that Mr. Greene is bribing a high-ranking member of the Polar Council, and exposes this to Pablo, one of Greene's investors. Vera resigns her position and is hired by Pablo, while Norm and the lemmings chase the truck holding the houses.

The animal control sends the truck carrying Norm's grandfather, and Norm is captured as well. After being freed by the lemmings, Norm and his grandfather get to the boat carrying the houses to the Arctic, and they are able to detach the houses, but Norm gets separated from his grandfather.

Norm awakens in the Arctic and is reunited with the lemmings and the other animals. Because of his heroism, Norm is crowned the King of the Arctic, but not before his grandfather arrives. Meanwhile, Mr. Greene's reputation is ruined after his bribery is publicly revealed, Vera and Olympia are happy with Pablo as their new boss, and Norm and Elizabeth later get married, and have three cubs together named Maria, Chase, and Quinn.

Cast

Rob Schneider as Norm. Ken Katsumoto stated that the film's writing and production team wanted Norm to be like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; much like how Rudolph perceived his red nose as a disadvantage for him but later helped Santa and saved Christmas, Norm sees his ability to communicate with humans as a negative, but it later ultimately saves the Arctic from Mr. Greene. According to Lionsgate's press release, Schneider was cast by the producers for the role of Norm due to his "vocal warmth and spot-on comedic instincts". Katsumoto explained that they "immediately fell in love with Rob's voice. His vocal dexterity was amazing. He also did a great job of embellishing lines to make them funnier. Many of those ad-libs made it into the film". As Schneider himself described Norm: "I always play the guy you can laugh at and say, 'My life's not that great, but look at that guy!' I think in this movie, other bears look at Norm that way. No one takes him seriously, but he follows his heart and it ends up saving their home. It's fun to play somebody who tries to achieve something big and ends up getting rewarded because he's not doing it for himself. That's a nice lesson for kids".

Heather Graham as Vera Brightly. The producers listened through numerous actress auditions for the part of Vera, looking for, in Katsumoto's words, a performance that was "fierce but sensitive at the same time".

Ken Jeong as Mr. Greene. Jeong voiced Mr. Greene because he wanted to show his twin daughters a film that he starred in: "Most of the movies I do I can't show my kids yet. With Norm of the North, they'll finally be able to watch one of Daddy's movies. That was kind of a big incentive for me to be part of this project". Katsumoto explained why Jeong was chosen for the role: "We fell in love with the fact that Ken can be villainous and likable at the same time. He's got incredible comic timing and spontaneity. Ken also has a lot of great subtext in his voice. Some people at advance screenings of the movie have cited Mr. Greene as their favorite character. That's rare for a villain". Jeong described Mr. Greene as "a 50-year-old billionaire with a ponytail, and that's pretty much all you need to know. He's this misguided person who starts out with good intentions. He loves to meditate. He tries to incorporate these New Age concepts into his thinking until things go horribly awry".

Maya Kay as Olympia Brightly, Vera's teenage daughter. Kay previously did voice acting for another animated film by Lionsgate, Alpha and Omega (2010). Kay said that she enjoyed voicing the character and working with Graham: "I was super excited to have Heather Graham play my mom – just like Vera, she's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet". She also explained that "it was really awesome to play somebody so smart, with good intentions to help Norm save his home".

Colm Meaney as Norm's grandfather

Loretta Devine as Tamecia

Gabriel Iglesias as Pablo and Stan

Michael McElhatton (US) and James Corden (UK) as Laurence

Bill Nighy as Socrates, an intelligent seagull

Salome Jens as Councilwoman Klubeck

Charlie Adler as Forebear

G.K. Bowes as Female Tourist

Debi Derryberry as Daughter

Ben Diskin as Chef Kozawa

Keith Ferguson as Human Tourist

Dan Gordon as Nigel, Henchman #1, PA

Jess Harnell as Male Tourist

Kate Higgins as Elizabeth

Mikey Kelley as Henchman #2

Rove McManus as Junior Investor

Emily Polydoros as Bratty Girl

Eric Price as Caribou #1, Caribou #2

Nick Shakoour as Costumed Bear

Max Spitz as Teen Bear #1

Janet Varney as Janet

Rick D. Wasserman as Henchman #3

James Corden as Employee #1

Director Trevor Wall provides the voice for the three main lemmings in the film, although he is not credited. As Nicolas Atlan described the lemmings: "We thought it would be hysterical to combine Norm, the largest creature in the Arctic, with lemmings that are small and indestructible. They can get squashed, they can get stomped on, they can have an elevator close on them, but like Silly Putty, they bounce right back into their original shape".

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 6% based on 70 reviews and an average rating of 3.10/10. The site's critical consensus read: "A pioneering feat in the field of twerking polar bear animation but blearily retrograde in every other respect, Norm of the North should only be screened in case of parental emergency". Shortly after its theatrical release on January 15, 2016, it temporarily had a rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews at the time. On Metacritic, as of August 2020, the film had a score of 21 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Critic Mark Dujsik gave the film 1 out of 4 possible stars, writing that "Norm of the North doesn't care about the environment, the animals of the Arctic, or even kids for that matter. It wants to be 'cute and marketable' as cheaply as possible". James White of Empire gave the film 1 out of 5 possible stars, writing that "we wouldn't recommend you watch it even after you've burned through every other possibility – and that includes a blank screen". Mark Kermode of The Observer called the film a "dull ... below-par Ice Age-style tale in which the highlight is a group of vulgar lemmings". Michael Rechtshaffen of the Los Angeles Times called the film "blandly uninspired", and Soren Andersen of The Seattle Times called the film an "idiotic animated comedy", writing that "no child should be exposed to this".

Geoff Berkshire of Variety called the film a "blandly executed pic" that "will quickly head south to an ancillary afterlife". Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave the film a "D" grade, writing that "this is a movie for children. But using that as a justification for lazy work, as if kids are inherently too dumb to know the difference, isn't just condescending. In a post-Pixar world, where audiences have become accustomed to quality animated family films, it's a waste of money". Stephen Schaefer of the Boston Herald gave the film a grade of "B−", writing that, despite being "hardly original ... 'Norm' has oodles of charm, a razor-sharp wit, and pacing that should keep even preschoolers attentive".

Edwin L. Carpenter of The Dove Foundation gave the film its Family-Approved seal, writing that "your kids will enjoy Norm's company–he's funny and a role model for doing the right thing".

Norm of the North

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