Epic is the latest animated kids film from Blue Sky Studios...that company that has brought us multiple, unnecessary Ice Age sequels. While Epic might not be as unbearable as last year's Ice Age: Continental Drift....it is still quite boring and just as unnecessary. The film is a plethora of different environmentally themed plots (although they don't directly admit that they're environmentally themed...they most certainly are)...now of which make any sense. The film felt quite a bit like Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest as written by a college student who is really, really, really high.
The film follows MK (voiced by Amanda Seyfried) who is shrunk down to size by her obsessive dad (Jason Sudekis.) MK meets Ronin (Colin Farrell)...a fellow tiny person whose son, Nod (Josh Hutcherson) wants to be respected by him. Meanwhile...all three of them have to take down Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) who plans on destroying the forest they live in. Helping them out are a slug and a snail named Mub and Grub (Aziz Ansari and Chris O'Dowd.)
Let's start with the one good thing about the film. Although Mandrake is not a believable or effective villain...Waltz does do great voice work. He's the only person is this talented cast who manages to make his voice have such an impact that the character comes to live more than he deserves to. This is the one thing that makes this film not completely stink.
Now for the bad. I'll actually start with my least favorite thing about the film. Mub and Grub are quite possibly the most irritating characters in movie history. Yes...I know they're in the film for comic relief that toddlers can enjoy. However, since I'm not a toddler...I found nothing they said or did to be remotely funny and they started to grate on my nerves more and more as the film went along. Also....the film's not that visually stunning. In fact...it's pretty ugly. The action scenes aren't the only things that are shot so fast that you can't tell what's happening. In fact...98% of the film is shot in such a shaky, fast way that I felt as if my theater was showing a bootleg of the film. Lastly...the save the environment theme of this film is incredibly annoying. I go to an animated children's film to have fun. I don't go to feel like I'm watching An Inconvenient Truth.
Epic will certainly not break any barriers for animated films. It's not even that much of an improvement (slight at the most) for Blue Sky Studios. With such films as Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3 available on DVD and Monsters University coming out in less than a month...why spend your money on such a boring waste of talent?
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars...The film is rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language)
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