Divine Fate

A beautifully animated environmental parable, Divine Fate is set in a distant universe, where a pair of human-like creatures arrive and abuse the law of the land. This law gives creatures whatever they ask for, under the conditions that they take only what they need, and give something good in return. Naturally, the human-like creatures become greedy, deplete the giant candy machine warehouse, and are banished. While the film is lovely to look at, the message is overly simplistic. man takes, and doesn't give back, therefore man is an irresponsible caretaker. While there are any number of real and important environmental battles being fought out there, only the most dyed-in-the-wool-nature-is-God dufus would maintain that man has selfishly took without any regard for others or the planet. Divine Fate would be appreciated by animation buffs, but this is way too artsy for younger kids, and way too simple for older viewers. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)