I know everyone’s going to be saying variations of this, but it had to be said: Epic, while good, wasn’t that epic.
Epic tells the story of a teenage girl named Mary Katherine, who has been estranged from her father. But when her mother dies, Mary Katherine is forced to try to make it work with her eccentric father Professor Bomba, who is a scientist with some pretty outrageous obsessions. For years, Professor Bomba’s been trying to find evidence of a world filled with little people that exists right under our noses. With a little bit of magic, Mary Katherine shrinks down itty bitty and gets thrown into the midst of a war that is raging in the forest.
Written and directed by Chris Wedge, one of the co-founders of Blue Sky, Epic has a star-studded cast, which includes Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Collin Farrell, Beyoncé Knowles, and Pitbull–just to name a few. That being said, the casting and some dialogue did seem a little forced The voice acting is ok, but goes to show that celebrity voices don’t make or break an animated film: a great story and animation does.
The character designs and animation were well done. Blue Sky chose unique color palette and lighting that really added to the storytelling. Just as one would expect from the creators of the Ice Age movies and Rio, the film has a healthy dose of slapstick humor and heart. In what seemed like an attempt to appear cool and hip, the film intermittently mixed in cultural expressions and slang, which came off a little disjointed in some spots.
The story, however, was very creative. I went in with low expectations, thinking that it was going to be just like FernGully. But I happily realized that it wasn’t! Epic is based on a children’s book by William Joyce called The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. While I can’t attest to how true it stayed to the original book (since I haven’t read it), I can say that Blue Sky added a lot of little details in the story that made you actually believe that little people, the mini war and miniature world were really happening under our noses.
Epic isn’t the movie that everyone’s going to be talking about years from now; however, it might be the one that people talk about for the next few weeks. I did leave feeling satisfied and having enjoyed my time. If you’re planning on going to the movies this weekend and have an inkling to see it, then go for it!
★★★1/2
Are you going to see Epic this weekend?
Watch Chelsea’s video review below!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htvTycA_Wt4]
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