Emily Vaartstra | rawr reviews
Sometimes it’s nice to take a step back from the busy, stressed life of a college student and watch a light-hearted film that allows all those worries from the week to melt away in the magic of animation.
From the creators of “Ice Age” and “Rio,” the 2013 film “Epic” is a fun animated movie that brings the magic of nature to life in a whole new way.
Mary Katherine, or M.K. (Amanda Seyfried), returns to live with her dad (Jason Sudeikis), an enthusiastic and seemingly crazy naturalist searching for small creatures in the woods, after her mother dies. M.K. is skeptical and taken aback at her father’s work so she decides not to stay with him after all. After getting lost in the woods she gets turned into a small person by Queen Tara (Beyoncé Knowles), the protector of nature, when she is dying after being struck by the Boggans who aim to destroy nature. As Queen Tara dies, she gives M.K. the pod that will carry on the role as protector of the forest. M.K. along with the leaf-men Ronin (Colin Farrell) and Nod (Josh Hutcherson) begin their journey to protect the pod from the evil Boggan leader Mandrake (Christoph Waltz).
The story has two plots lines—the first being M.K.’s assignment to protect the pod and make sure it blooms under the moon light in order to be the good protector of nature and not an evil destroyer of nature, and the second being the mending of a broken relationship between M.K. and her father.
The film keeps the audience engaged and invested in this magical world through its similarities to reality. The magical creatures have high-speed races and gambling, a military, an enemy threatening their homeland and each creature has a job that contributes to the function of their society.
The film does a really good job with handling death in terms of it being a family film. At the beginning of the film when Queen Tara dies the process of death is portrayed as something that doesn’t linger, but rather the spirit of that creature is passed on through the pod. Queen Tara slowly disappears, but there is no evidence of her death which makes it a message of hope and has the magical element of her still watching over the woods in spirit.
Being a family film, there are times when scenes seem really cliché and predictable, but it’s easy to push that monotony aside with the fantastic use of color and detailed animation of the magical woodland creatures. The bright and glowing colors used in the film make it worth watching just in itself.
Since the film is packed with plenty of familiar actor’s voices, it makes the movie that much better. It is entertaining to hear the voices of singers Beyonce, Pitbull (as Bufo) and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler (as Nim Galuu). Of course any character backed by Christoph Waltz’s voice you know is going to be “epic.” One of the most eccentric characters is a slug name Mub voiced by Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation). Mub plays a vital role through the story and provides a constant string of humor throughout the film.
If you are looking for an entertaining, “epic” animated family film to watch while sipping a hot cup of cocoa over a chilly weekend, “Epic” is a great pick.