By Ryan Guerra
(Excuse the mess, we are updating the site)
Epic, this is not. A young and lonely teenage girl is transported into the secret forest world and makes friends and family of the leaf people as they band together with the goal to save the world from decay. This latest film from the creators who brought us Ice Age and Rio falls short of being epic and creates nothing more than an average unoriginal children’s film at best.
To go along with an average plot, there was average, unemotional voice acting from a diverse cast of actors with no real standout performances other than the comedic voices of Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd. The two play a slug and snail and deliver some much needed laughs after a long and dry first half hour.
However this movie makes up for limited laughs with action. For a children’s movie there is a lot of action as the forces nature versus decay battle against each other. Parents take note, the 4 year old child who watched the movie with me got a little scared at parts, but made it through to the end when held safe in the lap of his mother for the remainder of the film.
Visually, the film is pleasing and its 3D is solid, especially during any scene where the characters are flying on top of birds. In the end I left the theater without a second thought for the film. Enjoyable, but it does not have the charm as recent family films like The Croods. Kids may not mind the average story, but it is one that is easy to forget.
2.5 out of 5
Epic By Amy-Jo Shriner
I’ll admit it; I wasn’t so thrilled to be taking time out on a Saturday to see this movie. I’m usually a big fan of animated features, but this one just didn’t catch my attention. I saw previews, but always forgot right after that I was going to review it. I knew it was a story about a young girl who gets shrunk, finds a tiny civilization living in the forest and, of course, learns some life lessons. I’ve seen this before, we all have; not that it’s a bad thing to watch and surely the target audience for this kind of feature needs to see it as often as possible. Still I was thinking, “Again? Really?”
I couldn’t have been more wrong in my apathy. Epic has multiple messages to impart, not so subtle is the environmental message. The Treemen and Boggins are locked in a struggle with the very fate of the forest at stake. The Treemen fight to keep the forest alive and thriving, while the Boggins spread disease and pestilence wherever they go. Message number two: don’t get so wrapped up in your own life and interests you forget your family. Both M.K. (Amanda Seyfried) and her father are so wrapped up in their own issues at the beginning of the show; they almost miss a huge chance to reconnect. It is only because M.K. gets shrunk and goes on her adventure with the Treemen that they are able to figure out what is truly important. She also learns another important lesson from the Treemen: all things are connected, and she was a part of it all.
The story is good, and the acting is also good. It did take a while to get used to Colin Farrell as Ronin, and I had the hardest time placing Queen Tara’s voice, I was even wrong. It ended up being Beyonce Knowles. I loved Chris O’Dowd as the snail protector; Grub.
While not super excited to go see this; I’m really glad I got the chance! It was a great movie, with a great story and good acting. On a side note I was in a screening with lots of children and their parents, all of the children stayed quiet and seemed to have their attention held through the whole thing. It was really cute when, during a scaryish part, a little girl came to sit in her father’s lap next to me. She stayed there for the rest of the movie.
