El Arca
El Arca is an 2007 animated film from by Patagonik Animation retelling the story of Noah's Ark. God feels like his book isn't interesting enough compared to Buddhist and Confucian books, so he decides to flood the world in order to create a more compelling story. Two separate storylines run in the film, one focusing on Noah and one on the animals. (It's worth noting that nearly all the animals in the film are anthropomorphic.)
A letter gets sent out to all the animals saying that a pair will be needed to come on the ark in order to survive the flood. The lion prince Xiro volunteers to go after reading half of a torn letter, and picks Bruma, a lioness with vaguely referenced past indiscretions, over Kairel, an apparently fat lioness who helps plan the ark from the animal's side.
Before they board the ark, there is a dispute between the carnivores and herbivores over whether the herbivores would be eaten, which Xiro badly tries to mediate. It starts to rain and in the ensuing rush, Bruma is hit by a large prehistoric ungulate and is crushed to death, with said ungulate promptly drowning. No one really cares. A unicorn also misses the boat and drowns. Absolutely no one cares.
On the ship, the predators plot a takeover, while Xiro struggles with Kairel to take responsibility. Their plan is to use Panty, a panthress and nightclub singer, to quasi-seduce Xiro and make him think that he killed a herbivore. It works well enough to convince Kairel, and she runs off.
Meanwhile, Noah gets knocked down a shaft, and his sons fight over who gets the helm of the ship, which ends up running them aground at the north pole. Xiro hears a speech Noah gives to a penguin, thinks that it's God talking to him, and leads the animals out onto the ice to break the ark free. Kairel sees him finally taking responsibility, they drop off the appropriate arctic animals, and God gets the story he wanted for his Bible.
The film is notable for having a rather non-religious interpretation of Noah's Ark, and for being incredibly raunchy and loaded with references to sex.
- All Animation Is Disney: Technically, Patagonik is part of Buena Vista, which is Disney's global distribution company. In a roundabout way, it is a Disney film.
- Alpha Bitch: Bruma
- Buxom Is Better: This seems to be the reason why Xiro falls for Panty when he first sees her.
- Carnivore Confusion: Even the humans threaten to eat some of the animals (even the elephant) late in the film.
- Cats Are Mean: While the lion characters subvert this, Panty, Dagnio, and Bruma play this straight.
- Chocolate Baby: One of Noah's sons is black even though him and his wife are white.
- May a reference to a (deservedly) often-forgotten part of the story of Noah, where, after he settled down once the flood was over, he got drunk and fell into a naked stupor. His son, Ham, father of Canaan, saw the state Noah had made of himself and told his brothers so they could cover him up. When Noah woke up, he cursed Canaan and drove him away from the rest of the family, proclaiming that Canaan and all his descendents would forever after be slaves to the other descendents of Noah. Though not stated outright in the Bible, it's a common belief that Canaan and his descendents were "marked" by this curse by being given black skin. Certainly, that was the most common excuse used when Christians began enslaving Africans and similar dark-skinned races; their skin meant they were "children of Canaan" and thusly "rightfully slaves".
- Or it maay be a reference to the part of the story where the entire future genome of the human race comes from Noah's sons and their wives. The words Semitic, Hamatic, and Japethic come from this origin.
- May a reference to a (deservedly) often-forgotten part of the story of Noah, where, after he settled down once the flood was over, he got drunk and fell into a naked stupor. His son, Ham, father of Canaan, saw the state Noah had made of himself and told his brothers so they could cover him up. When Noah woke up, he cursed Canaan and drove him away from the rest of the family, proclaiming that Canaan and all his descendents would forever after be slaves to the other descendents of Noah. Though not stated outright in the Bible, it's a common belief that Canaan and his descendents were "marked" by this curse by being given black skin. Certainly, that was the most common excuse used when Christians began enslaving Africans and similar dark-skinned races; their skin meant they were "children of Canaan" and thusly "rightfully slaves".
- Disney Death: Bruma is seen in the afterlife for a few seconds
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: "The door to my heart, and room, are wide open."
- Everything's Worse with Bears: There is a bear in Dagnio's gang.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Bruma gets a really nasty one: she is crushed to death by an extinct kind of hippopotamus. This hippo and several other characters (like Xiro's parents and a unicorn) drown in the flood.
- Feathered Fiend: There is a vulture in Dagnio's gang.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven
- Furry Fandom
- Gainaxing: Quite noticeable in a few instances with Panty.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: The radar in question being Disney, apparently, who surely understood that this kind of movie would be acceptable in its native country and parts of Europe, but that doesn't explain why they made an English dub.
- God: God appears as a big, blond, black man with slanted blue eyes.
- God Is Evil: If you actually apply logic as to his reasons why he flooded the Earth. He did it because he thought it would make his book a more interesting read, treating the destruction of the entire world and all of its people as an interesting plot twist.
- Go Seduce My Arch-Nemesis: Panty's role in the story is pretty much to seduce Xiro, so that Dagnino can frame him and take over leadership.
- Hartman Hips / Hourglass Hottie: All the females in this movie, with Kairel taking the cake.
- Hello, Nurse!: Panty has gained this reaction even from those not part of the Furry Fandom.
- Misplaced Wildlife: In the beginning we see polar bears, who complain about the jungle heat. Later on they and a few other artic animals are dropped off at the North Pole.
- Mistaken for Gay: Bombay, Xiro's assistant. He wears a lavender hankerchef around his neck, has a falseletto voice, and is the only one on the boat who has a lavishly decorated room in pastels. Then, you see his female mate...who has a deep voice and looks very masculine.
- Ms. Fanservice: Panty
- Plot Hole: There is supposed to be a male and female pair for each animal, but Panthy has no mate.
- Replacement Love Interest: Zig-zagged. First Xiro is with Bruma, then when she's killed by a hippopotamus he gets with Kairel just because she's the only lioness around, then he gets with Panthy who turned out to be using him, then he ends up with Kairel for good.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: There is a crocodile or alligator in Dagnio's gang.
- Spoiled Brat: Prince Xiro
- Talking Animal: Obviously, but only among themselves. They are forbidden to talk to humans by an unnamed law.
- Toilet Humor: A few scenes, most notably at least two detailed shots of a massive pile of animal crap. Really.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The two storylines rarely intersect, if only briefly and indirectly.
- You Are Fat: From Bruma to Kairel in her only appearance before getting crushed by a hippo:
Now that you're going to die from drowning, I'd love to tell you a few things. First of all, I've always hated your efficiency and intelligence, and in case you don't know what a mirror is, You. Are. Fat.