Epic

I feel sorry for kids today.  In general, "kid's movies" nowadays tend to suck.  Movies for the child market used to be awesome.  They were made as if kids were fairly intelligent.  They were made to entertain adults too, because mom and dad had to sit through it too.  But something happened in the last 20-ish years.  The studios started making "kid's movies" about bodily functions and loud noises (usually involving goofy singing).  Luckily, "Epic" is a movie that doesn't assume your child is a fart-obsessed idiot.

The movie shares elements of plenty of other movies but never enough that it feels unoriginal.  It's about a city-girl who goes to live with her father (her parents are divorced) after her mother dies.  Her dad believes that little people live in the forest and his work has overshadowed all else for him.  The daughter wanders in the woods and is shrunk down to bug size.  She must help the good little people defeat the bad little people in order to return home.

First off, the issues of death, divorce, and estrangement are not glossed over.  They are major plot points that are handled with incredible sincerity.  I was actually moved by the scenes between father and daughter.  I'm not used to any non-Pixar cartoon eliciting an emotional response from me.

But one emotion I wanted to feel (that older "kid's movies" did really well) was dread.  I never felt that the main characters were in danger.  People get killed by arrows and one villain is splatted on a windshield but I still didn't feel that the main characters would even get hurt (they don't).  Part of that is because they can fall from any height and come out unscathed.  But there is some dark imagery.  The bad guys are creepy.  The rot that they spread (they are agents of decay) can be eerie.  It's not enough to be truly scary but it's a step in the right direction.  At least the movie handles suspense well.

On the flip-side of the rot is the green part of the forest.  "Epic" is a beautiful movie.  Like dazzlingly beautiful at times.  It's definitely made for 3-D and some of those "in-your-face" shots are obnoxious.  But at the end of the day, I enjoyed my time in this world.

There is one odd musical number.  It's very out of place.  So much so, that I cringed during its entirety.  If this had been a musical film (like classic Disney), then I'd have been fine with it.  But it's just jarring.

Last complaint.  This is not even something that affects the quality of the film nor does it apply to only "Epic."  Why are there so many big name celebrities in the cast?  Why are there any at all?  Does that sell the movie?  None of those celebrities are used in the advertising.  All the classic animated movies avoided this (there are notable exceptions).  The animation and story are the selling point.  "Epic" has great animation and a solid story.  How much could this movie have saved by casting nobodies or professional voice actors?  Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Beyonce Knowles, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudeikis, Chris O'Dowd, Pitbull, Aziz Ansari, and Steven Tyler round out this cast.  I love most of these people.  Hell, Pitbull is the entire reason I drink Pepsi. But this kind of casting is just wasteful.

Parents, go rent this movie for your children.  Non-parent adults, you might actually like "Epic."  It's not the best animated film out there but it's better than the vast majority of "kid's movies" today.

7 out of 10