Epic (2013): Written by
Tom Astle and Matt Ember, directed by Chris Wedge. Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Colin Ferrell, Beyonce
Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O’Dowd. Rated
PG for: mild action, brief language,
and some scary elements. Running Time: 102 minutes.
Based on William Joyce’s The Leaf
Men and the Brave Good Bugs.
Rating: 3/4 Stars
In many ways, Epic reminds me a lot of James
Cameron’s Avatar. There is a story, and there are
characters. There is a villain, and a
conflict. At the end there are morals
told and lessons learned. All of that,
however, is kept basic, superficial, and simple, because the focus of the film
is ultimately not to tell a story- its intent is to create a world of magic and
beauty and immerse us in it for an hour and a half. Fortunately, for the most part, it does so
quite admirably.
The opening scene sets the tone for the rest
of the film- we see a lone, awkward scientist, stumbling around the forest
looking for evidence that tiny leaf people exist. Eventually he stumbles across a hummingbird
with a miniature saddle strapped to its back.
As he gazes up into the trees with a look of joyous wonder on his face,
we zoom away to the tiny soldier who had been riding the bird, struggling to
fight off an attack of small shark-esque gremlins riding crows. It’s a slick, fun action scene that doesn’t
abuse the 3D *too* much, and by the end, we’re excited and ready to see what
comes next.
What does
come is a taxi, bringing the scientist’s daughter to him after the death of
their mother (we learn that the mother and daughter had left him some years
previously, seeing his obsession with tiny leaf people as literally insane. Can’t imagine why). She’s lonely and a bit exasperated with her
Dad, but clearly wants to give him another chance, and hopes to convince him to
give up on his theories about tiny people being real. He’s so wrapped up in his work that he barely
hears her though, and within a day she’s already fed up and gets ready to
leave.
While
this storyline is being set up, we are taken to the gorgeous world of the leaf
people, a world occupied by other strange creatures as well- people formed from
all manner of plants, and more than a few talking animals (although it’s never
explained why the slugs and frogs can talk but the birds, dogs, and deer
apparently can’t). We learn that the
leaf people are essentially a race of soldiers, committed to protecting the
Queen of the Forest, whose power sustains all life in the woods. The captain of the guard fears an attack by
the leader of the gremlin people (seriously, I have no idea what they’re
supposed to be), especially since the time is approaching for the Queen to
select her successor as the Forest’s protector.
These
fears prove to be well-founded, as a massive army of gremlins strikes
immediately after the Queen selects the flower bud that will transmit her power
to the next Queen. The leaf men fight
ferociously and drive them off, but not before an errant arrow strikes the
Queen down. Right before she dies,
however, the daughter from earlier happens to see her fall from the sky and
catches the bud right after the Queen breathes her last breath into it, which
causes the daughter to shrink to the size of the leaf people (and breathe). Hoping to find a way to return to her normal
size, the daughter has to team up with the captain of the guard, a
trouble-making leafman novice, and two wise-cracking slugs to safely bring the
flower bud back to the Queen’s hold so the next Queen can be chosen, all the
while avoiding constant attacks by the gremlin king, who hopes to destroy the
forest once and for all.
The
director of this movie, Chris Wedge, is the same guy who brought us the
brilliance that is Ice Age. Sadly, unlike in that classic, nearly every
character in Epic is pretty
forgettable, with personalities and arcs that have all been done a thousand
times before. The sole exceptions are
the Queen, who is interesting enough in her few scenes, and the slugs, who are
genuinely funny, and bring a lot of that
Ice Age magic to the table with their constant banter. The villain is rather amusingly voiced by
Christoph Waltz, but aside from that, there’s really nothing of substance to
his scheme. He has the power to kill
anything he strikes, but he’s never terrifying or threatening enough to make up
for the fact that his lone motivation is, “I want to kill because…..um…...I’m
EEEEEEVIIIIIIIIIL!!!!!” Oh, and his son
dies at one point. Because, you know,
that’s never been done before either.
Despite
these very noticeable issues, Epic
makes up for them (mostly) with its stunning animation and production
design. The world of the leaf people
looks fantastic. The entire movie bursts
with sunshine and forest green, making this ostensibly normal, average New
England forest seem like an exotic world completely detached from the realm of
man (which, in a sense, it is). Several
scenes- a carriage of leaves carried by a flock of hummingbirds, a formation of
leaf soldiers flying into the sunlight, the appearance of a deer in the brush-
are done with such loving attention to detail that my brain literally stopped
thinking temporarily so it could coo at the pretty colors. Say what I will about the characters, I can’t
help but acknowledge a genuine sense of reverence for the forest that permeates
the entire movie.
And
that, actually, might be one of the biggest advantages Epic gives itself. As easy it
would be for them to throw in references to “the sacredness of nature,” or to
somehow shoehorn in the standard “Nature Good, Man Bad” message that turns so
many people off so many movies, they don’t.
They just create the world and let the characters do their thing in
it. As a result, you find yourself
wanting the good guys to win and the forest to survive NOT because someone
makes a speech about it, but because the whole place looks so damn beautiful
you don’t want to see it spoiled. Not
only is Man NOT the problem this time around (gasp), but a bit of 21st
century technology actually plays a key role in saving the day.
The
action is well-done as well. Fist
fights, sword fights, blasts of magic, and air battles are all
well-choreographed and a ton of fun to watch.
They also build up each progressive action piece effectively- as the
stakes get bigger and bigger, the amount of action and number of people
involved gets bigger and bigger as well.
In fact, the film almost builds itself up too well by the end. As the armies of the leaf people and the
gremlins gather for the final smack-down, I was pretty much expecting them to
re-create the Battle of Gondor in the sky, with bats and hummingbirds in place
of war elephants (admit it, you ALL want to see that). And we do get the battle, and the final boss
fight, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the level of….well….Epic that I’d hoped. Not that it’s a bad ending- it works just
fine, all loose ends are tied up, the villain dies, the necessary character arcs
are completed- I just found myself wishing for a *little* bit more than what I
got. If they really had given me the
LOTR Smurf-style, I might have completely absolved the film of its many flaws
and given it a 4/4 rating. But, you
review the film you have, not the one you wish you had.
So,
even though Epic falls a bit shy of living up to its own name, I would still
highly recommend it, for both the slugs and the animation, if nothing
else. The only other animated film
coming out this year (that I’m currently aware of) is the Monsters prequel, and I
honestly do not know how high my expectations for that should be, so this will
probably be the only interesting animated film to come out for a good
while. It’s no masterpiece, it’s not
great, but damn if I didn’t have fun.
-Noah Franc
-Noah Franc
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