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As Germany’s first digital feature, ‘Back to Gaya’ (otherwise known as ‘The Snurks’) should be hailed as a success. However, compared to its Hollywood or British counterparts it is a fairly mediocre animated film which doesn’t push too many boundaries.

Our heroic duo — the dumb but brave Zino and the clever but cowardly Boo — hail from the fantastical Gaya. Gaya is an idyllic land of vibrant colours, beautiful scenery and happy ‘people’, which is only mildly plagued by the nasty Snurks who are always getting up to mischief.

Life and happiness on Gaya seems to stem from the magical Dalamite stone, which brings light, but also possesses other qualities unbeknownst to the Gayans. A further fact of which the Gayans are unaware is that their world, which is the creation of Albert Drollinger (voiced by Patrick Stewart), is in fact a children’s television programme.

Their happy existence is shattered when an evil Earth scientist decides to steal the Dalamite and use it as an inter-world (television worlds and the real world) transporter. Our heroes, the Snurks (the baddies who are actually desperate to be heroes) and the mayor’s adventurous and independent daughter Alanta (voiced by Emily Watson) follow the Dalamite with plans to bring it back.

They end up on Earth, where they are faced with a series of life-threatening adventures, meet their creator and are forced to work together to save Gaya.

The story is fairly straightforward, and more could perhaps have been made of the time on Earth. Careful attention has been paid to detail in the animation which, with the exception of a few stiff movements, is great

The characters are rather unorthodox and the film delves somewhat philosophically into the notion of free-will.

On the whole though, it is aimed more at young children than their parents, with a noticeable absence of adult humour.