Epic isn’t really ‘epic’, but the under 12 crowd will love it

And the anime people will like it, but more on that in a moment.  Epic is a shrunken world story about the Leaf Men, who are protecting nature and the Boggans, who are out to destroy it.  There is also a scientist who is looking for this small world.  His daughter comes to visit for the spring, gets shrunken to Leaf Men size and the movie takes off.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

The plot from Epic has come under scrutiny because it sounds familiar.  If you’re older than 25 it may sound like Ferngully or older than 15 it may sound like Avatar.  In reality, the plot is not too similar, the theme is very familiar, but characters and world that they live in is fresh and creative.

This is the best animated movie I’ve ever seen

Let me parse out that headline.  This is the best animated movie I’ve ever seen.   The animation in Epic is what is really epic.  Anime fans love anime because of the layered feel those movies have.  They’re crafted with so much love and attention to detail that they forgive some plot imperfections just to appreciate the art.

Epic has that same quality animation, except in this case it’s digital.  Almost every shot in the movie is layered, with the background being fuzzy.  Even the action shots with them flying around on the little birds is done in such a crafty, creatively shot way it makes you forgive the shortcomings of the plot.

The detail and scope of the Epic world is also really well done.  The anime-esque scenes help make that world appear to scale and as big and dangerous as it must be for a 1 inch person out there.

Hollywood, stop Beyonce from doing vocal work again

Beyonce voices the ‘mother nature’ character in Epic.  Every word that she speaks is breathy, spoken in the same tone and distracting.  She also sings the song at the end of the movie, which is done in exactly the same tone as her lines from the movie.

Mandrakes’ animation is brilliant

Mandrake is the leader of the Boggans and his battle scenes look more like stop motion animation than digital animation.

Epic doesn’t have the humor or pop culture sensibilities as other animated features.  The story isn’t as well crafted and will leave most adults looking at their watch.  The film has plenty of action for children though and if adults concentrate on the look of the film then they just might cut it a break on the script. I was relieved that Epic didn’t turn into an eco guilt war of blaming them for that and so on.