Blue Sky does an okay job with its movies. They’re more for kids than the whole family but they’re certainly not bad films (well maybe the last couple of Ice Age movies were bad). The trailers to Epic looked like it would be a fun ride but nothing too special. While the movie wa better than I expected it to be, it certainly doesn’t live up to its title.
Epic tells the tale of M.K. (Amanda Seyfried), who moves in with her estranged father (Jason Sudeikis) who has been searching for tiny human soldiers that live in the woods. M.K. stumbles upon these tiny soldiers called Leafmen, who protect the forest from evil creatures called “Boggans” who want to destroy the forest. M.K. gets shrunken down to the size of a Leafman by the queen of the forest (Beyoncé Knowles) who asks M.K. to help the Leafmen stop the Boggans.
The story in Epic is pretty generic and filled with a lot of unanswered questions. The villains really have no motivation and it’s never really explained how the Leafmen came to be (were they shrunken down like M.K.?) or how no other scientist has managed to find these things over time as they really aren’t too secret about it (the goofball father was able to find satchels and get pictures of these things). Kids won’t notice this but everybody else watching the film will. The movie gets points for being original and entertaining for all ages but it’s nothing too special.
The characters are also pretty average. M.K. and all the other Leafmen and good creatures of the forest are likable enough where you’re rooting for them while the villains are bad enough for a kid’s movie. The voice acting in the film was great though. Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudeikis, and Steven Tyler are all believable in their roles with many of them doing voice acting for the very first time. Really great job by the cast.
I didn’t see the film in 3D but the animation was still able to pop off the screen. It doesn’t look as stunningly gorgeous as Brave or maybe some of DreamWorks or Sony Animation’s films but the movie still looks great. It’s very colorful and the action in the movie is very smooth. Some moments with just the scenery looked fantastic but it’s the character models that could’ve used more character.
The movie is very good for kids and the PG rating is only because of some of the action scenes. Kids will find the movie more enjoyable than adults mainly due to the goofy sidekicks and very simple and straight forward dialogue but adults will find the movie entertaining like I did.
The Verdict
My friend said it best when he said, “They shouldn’t have called the movie Epic. They should’ve called the movie, Decent” and I can’t agree more. Kids will have a great time while adults will still enjoy the film. The movie has great voice acting and animation while the story and characters are a little generic. Don’t expect anything too special but just know that there are far worse kids movies out there.
For reviews and more from me, Petey Oneto, you can check out my blog but be sure to check back with Resident Entertainment for more of my posts in the future.