Animal FIRST review: Ranbir Kapoor dominates in Sandeep Vanga universe; carefully crafts a father-son tale

The cinematic experience of watching 'Animal' is outstanding. Sandeep Vanga Reddy delivers on his promise of teaching Bollywood how to make a violent movie. It's adrenaline rush all throughout

Amrita Ghosh

First Published Dec 1, 2023, 2:48 PM IST

Director- Sandeep Vanga Reddy

Cast- Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Shakti Kapoor and others

Our Rating- 4.5/5

Animal belongs to Ranbir Kapoor and Sandeep Vanga Reddy. It was a Ranbir Kapoor show all along, his acting prowess was on full display in the riveting tale of this father-son dynamics as flawed as it might be. Ranbir Kapoor shattered his 'Ladies-man', 'lover-boy' image that he has played in films like 'Bachna Aae Haseeno', 'Tu Jhoothi Mai Makkar', 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' and many more.

Plot

The film's plot revolves around a son (Vijay Balbeer Singh) played by Ranbir Kapoor who is madly in love with his father Balbeer Singh (Anil Kapoor). Love would be an understatement, it is toxic obsession who seeks nothing but validation from him.

Like Kabir Singh or Arjun Reddy, Sandeep Vanga's obsession with flawed 'alpha males' is on full display here too. Ranvijay's character is highly problematic; specially his treatment towards his wife Gitanjali played by Rashmika Mandanna. The 'masculinity' that was portrayed is sure to get some bashing from females.

In spite of these fallacious characteristics, the impeccable performances of the stellar cast was on point. Beside the lead pair, Anil Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor gave matured performances as is expected from seasoned actors like them.

A whole paragraph should be dedicated to Lord Bobby aka Bobby Deol however, personally I would have liked to see more of Bobby in the film. Ranbir Kapoor and Bobby Deol seemed to be cut out from the same cloth that Sandeep Vanga is weaving. It's hard to elaborate on his role without giving some spoilers.

Watch out for Tripti Dimri's character. She is a true revelation!

Lengthy Run-time

Much was written about the 3 hours 20 minutes runtime. But having seen it first hand, I can assure that not once will the octane drop. You will be on the edge of your seats for pretty much the whole time and by the time the movie ends, you will be left in shock.

What worked for us

The stellar performances, swag of each one of them, stole the show. The BGM was on point. The story-telling, the editing was perfect.

What could have been better

The fight sequences could have been trimmed down a bit on their lengths. However, it's a gory movie as is justified by it's title- Animal. It's action-sequences are animalistic and a bit gruesome for my personal taste.

On, the whole Animal delivers on it's promise of entertaining and not once will you feel let down. You might disagree with the flawed characteristics but the adrenaline rush that it's provides is hard to disregard.