Running Time: 102 minutes
Starring: Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Beyonce Knowles
Starring: Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Beyonce Knowles
Who to see it with: An animation fan or a fan of Honey I Shrunk the Kids!
David:
Rent it.
Epic is the new animated movie from Blue Sky, the studio behind Ice Age and Rio. It follows a girl who has a spell cast on her, causing her to shrink and discover a tiny civilization that is fighting to keep a nearby forest alive. Since it's an animated movie, we'll start with the animation, which is just gorgeous. The film is beautiful and filled with great effects. Blue Sky created a very imaginative world--a miniature society that utilizes plants and other items from the forest to protect it. And accompanying the beautiful animation is some great sound and music. The film score is inspiring and perfectly timed. The voice acting is good in some parts, but distracting in others. Beyonce is especially good in her role as the queen. (Honestly, is there anything she's NOT good at?)
However, the problem with Epic is that it's not sure what type of movie it wants to be. The characters are funny and provide good comic relief, but the overall story is dark and deals with some intense issues (the world ending, problems with family, etc). For example, during a particularly serious portion of the movie, we are introduced to a character who provides a singing introduction. Keep in mind that this is the only song in the entire movie. It's like they wanted to be a classic Disney movie--which would typically had four or five musical numbers throughout the movie--but could only think of one song. And the voice acting is hit or miss. Some of the characters are perfect and others are just distracting and seem off base. You have very serious soldier type characters and then wise cracking comic slugs. Epic is by no means a bad movie, but it needs to decide what type of movie it wants to be and stick with that.
However, the problem with Epic is that it's not sure what type of movie it wants to be. The characters are funny and provide good comic relief, but the overall story is dark and deals with some intense issues (the world ending, problems with family, etc). For example, during a particularly serious portion of the movie, we are introduced to a character who provides a singing introduction. Keep in mind that this is the only song in the entire movie. It's like they wanted to be a classic Disney movie--which would typically had four or five musical numbers throughout the movie--but could only think of one song. And the voice acting is hit or miss. Some of the characters are perfect and others are just distracting and seem off base. You have very serious soldier type characters and then wise cracking comic slugs. Epic is by no means a bad movie, but it needs to decide what type of movie it wants to be and stick with that.
Rent it.
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