This weekend, the latest in a long line of eco-themed Hollywood movies opens at cinemas across the US. (The UK release is scheduled for 7 May.) In recent years, we've had Happy Feet, The Day After Tomorrow, Over the Hedge, WALL-E, The Road and Avatar to name just a few of the more high-profiles examples. Furry Vengeance is an "eco-comedy" starring Brooke Shields and Brendan Fraser. Here's the official plot summary:

For Mother Nature, revenge is a dish best served … furry! In this hilarious family comedy with a message, greedy developers try to pave over paradise and unwittingly launch a sidesplitting battle between man and nature. And anyone who doesn't learn that "green" isn't just the color of money might just end up as roadkill!

After transplanting his family from Chicago to the Oregon woods for his new job overseeing the construction of a supposedly "eco-friendly" housing development, Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser) thinks his biggest problem will be helping his city-loving wife Tammy (Brooke Shields) and nature-phobic teenaged son (Matt Prokop) adjust to their new surroundings while pleasing his demanding boss (Ken Jeong). But Dan's troubles have only begun once the local animals discover his leadership role in the destruction of their habitat. He soon lands atop their Most Wanted list, and realises how much trouble a few feisty forest creatures can cause!

Going on this description and the contents of the trailer alone (above), I have a hunch this movie isn't really going to be my cup of tea. And the only published review of the film that I can find doesn't exactly fill me with hope, either. Robert Wilonsky of St Louis's Riverfront Times says he isn't impressed by the movie's sledgehammer messaging:

Furry Vengeance isn't really a movie at all; it's a message provided by the good people at Participant Media, who've brought you, among other entertainments, Food, Inc. (which will make you never want to eat again), The Cove (which is kind of like an espionage caper, only it ends with the real-life slaughter of hundreds of dolphins) and the forthcoming Climate of Change (a Tilda Swinton-narrated doc about ordinary folks' efforts worldwide to combat global warming). The film's website offers kids an activity guide and redirects them to the Endangered Species Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Defenders of Wildlife. They all but print the lesson plan on biodegradable popcorn boxes. In other words, Participant knows comedy!

However, Wilonsky does admit that the "six-year-old who lives in my house" really enjoyed the film. Perhaps that's the point? It's a film aimed largely at kids.

Of course, there is a section of society - represented by the likes of NewsBusters - which despises the very notion that children should have their precious tiny minds polluted and indoctrinated by the evils of environmentalism.

Brooke Shields rejects this charge. "There's an eco message, but it is not something that we're preaching," she told Fox News. "We hope it spurs conversation with our kids about Mother Nature, the environment and the animals and how they can respect that."

Given that she was talking to a Fox News reporter, it shouldn't come as a surprise that she was also quizzed about her thoughts on climate change scepticism:

It all upsets me because I feel like we keep losing sight of simpler, smaller things. I don't know what is true or not, I only know what I can do on a daily basis because I believe in it. Whether I am turning the water off in between brushing my teeth, which my little daughter is the police of, or I am recycling, or switching my products or using an energy saving washing machine … I just have to do the best that I can do and keep doing more.

Personally, I never quite buy the line from jet-setting celebrities when they tell us things such as they turn the tap off when they're brushing their teeth. I feel it only feeds the cynicism many people have about being repeatedly urged to "do your bit for the environment".

But I do welcome the idea of issues such as deforestation, overfishing, smog, and climate change, being interwoven into children's films, even if, at times, their inclusion can feel clunky and forced. Is the "tree-hugging agenda", as NewsBusters calls it, really such a bad thing to be introducing to kids?