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CORNY as it is, animal anthropomorphism is pretty hard to resist. And in ''Animals Are
Beautiful People,'' Jamie Uys has accompanied a series of cute voice -over observations
about various desert creatures with footage that is sufficiently fascinating to dispense with
any sense of silliness. Mr. Uys, the South African director of ''The Gods Must Be Crazy,''
made this documentary several years earlier and gives it a naive charm very like that of his
big hit. He is not beyond occasionally manipulating the footage to achieve this, but the result
is still an engaging naturalism.

''Animals Are Beautiful People,'' which opens t oday at the 57th Street Playhouse, includes a
few embarrassing scenes in which African tribesmen, seen in their native habitat, are
described in much the same terms Mr. Uys uses for hedgehogs, lizards, hyenas and the
film's various other stars. However, th is film's prevailing spirit, like that of ''The Gods Must Be
Crazy,'' is more innocent than objectionable. ''Animals Are Beautiful People'' should
particularly delight children, provided they can withstand its very infrequent carcass shots, or
its undisguised awareness that animals battling a harsh, forbidding climate may very well
die.

Most of the film is cheery in the extreme, and filled with amazing bits of information. We
learn, for instance, that there is a desert plant that has adapted to the absence of bees by
developing a smell like rotting meat; that way, it can be sure of being pollinated by attracting
flies. There's the big fish that has a thousand tiny babies, and can swallow them at any sign
of impending danger. There's the bird that seals its mate in a tree trunk for several months,
until the chicks are hatched and able to fend for themselves; Mr. Uys takes care to indicate
how they deal with sanitation problems during that interval. There's even a mother who
protects her ducklings from a hyena by doing ''a pathetic drowning duck act, with all the cries
for help and all the glub -glubs the scene calls for.''

Among Mr. Uys's more visually striking scenes is one in which a baby wart hog is separated
from its mother, and then tries to sidle up to v arious other prospective parents; it's so ugly
that it winds up with only a tree trunk for company. There is also a lengthy sequence
showing what happens when the fruit on a particular kind of tree becomes ripe enough to
ferment after falling to the ground , and prompts a festival of gluttony. This is the perfect film
for anyone who's interested in seeing a baboon with a hangover. Creature Feature
ANIMALS ARE BEAUTIFUL, written, produced, directed, filmed and edited by Jamie Uys;
narrated by Paddy O'Byrne; r eleased by Warner Brothers Classics. At 57th Street
Playhouse, 110 West 57th Street.

A humorous documentary looking at the animal life over the course of a year that gather
around an oasis situated in a desert in Eastern Africa. Highlights of this being t he period
when the fruit from the trees surrounding the water hole. Fall into the water and ferment. The
animals that drink there end up being rather intoxicated, including the hangover the following
morning. All together a good, if now a bit dated, piece of documentary making. The
documentary covers all aspects of life around the water hole as the waters change from
being in almost flood like conditions. To the water drying up into a large muddy puddle
during the dry season. The animals that are featured b eing as diverse as warthogs,
elephants, tortoises and monkeys. The cinematography is excellent considering the
conditions endured and the length of time spent in the field shooting the footage. The
resultant film is refreshingly devoid of computer and othe r special effects, instead relying on
the editing and narration to convey events to the audience.