Review: Albert

Of course, Judah is a talking weed.

Animated holiday films are innumerable as are CG animated movies geared towards kids, so when you launch a new one you really should have a bunch of unique qualities to distance yourself from the competition.

In Albert, we meet a small Christmas tree (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) that wants to be center stage as the “Empire City” tree which is similar to being the Rockefeller tree in NYC. Together with his pals Maisie (a palm tree) and Gene the Weed (Judah Friedlander) , the duo traverses the scary terrains of winter to be the lucky tree selected and thereby being instantly famous. Along the way, they meet up with a disgruntled Cactus Pete (Rob Riggle) that swears to destroy Albert.

As one might expect, we aren’t exactly reinventing a wheel that is seen in plenty of films ala Toy Story and even the recently released Sausage Party where normally inanimate objects are brought to life when nobody is looking so as to go from Point A to Point B to accomplish some sort of task. With this being a Christmas movie, we get a sprinkling of rather forgettable songs and important morals that Christmas is all about being with the ones you love and not taking part in activities that only make for your own personal gain.

Albert hits all the right spots and does the job it’s supposed to do but those expecting for this to help forget about the classics like Rudolph or Frosty this time of year will be disappointed. Fortunately, hilarious voice performances from the likes of Moynihan, Friedlander, and Riggle are enough to help the older crowd pass the hour while the kids are enamored with the talking trees.