Epic
As with Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, the Fox-based Blue Sky Animation has been defined by one franchise in particular. For Pixar, it was “Toy Story”; for Dreamworks, “Shrek”; and for Blue Sky, it’s been “Ice Age.” Now, it’s time for them to find an identity beyond that series, and to branch out into bolder areas, which may not always work financially, but creatively, are well worth the risk.
Their first real move in that direction is “Epic,” based on a book by William Joyce, who also helped shape the screenplay with an army of other writers, and director Chris Wedge, stepping into the director’s chair for the first time since 2005’s unfortunate “Robots.” Though the film has plenty of humor– some of which feels out of place, some not so much –it’s primarily a dramatic adventure, which immediately helps distinguish it from Blue Sky’s previous endeavors. The fact that it succeeded in eliciting a deeply-emotional response from me is proof of its artistic success.
It’s funny how this film tied into themes also explored by Dreamworks’s Spring hit, “The Croods,” the first film the studio has released under it’s new distribution deal with Fox. Namely, the dynamics between fathers and daughters that seem to drive the actions of both film’s main characters. Here, it’s Mary Katherine (M.K., voiced by Amanda Seyfried), who has come to live with her reclusive, scientist father, Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) after her mother dies. Her parent’s marriage fell apart because Bomba became obsessed with the idea that, in the forest, existed an elaborate world of tiny people, and that there was more to the ebb-and-flow of the woods than we understood. M.K., like her mother (and pretty much everyone else), thinks he’s crazy, but as she’s about to discover through circumstance, he’s right.
The majority of the film centers in on this microscopic world, which M.K. gets pulled in to as she starts to leave her father’s house, frustrated with his obsession. She gets thrust into a battle between the Leaf Men (headed by Colin Farrell) and an army of mischievous creatures, led by the malevolent Mandrake (Christoph Waltz), who want to destroy the forest. They have an opening, as this is the time when the Queen (Beyonce Knowles) is choosing a successor. When she dies before the ritual is complete, things look dire, but maybe M.K. has a purpose for being here, at this time, beyond even she realizes.
This is the best-looking film Blue Sky has released to date (and yes, that includes the extravagantly-colored “Rio”), which is obvious enough from the trailers, and the pacing and staging of the action by Wedge and his team of animators kept this viewer on the edge of their seat, even when the conclusion seems quite inevitable. But what really sealed the deal for me was M.K.’s emotional journey with her feelings about her father. She starts the film by resenting being back, but gradually, she appreciates his obsession in a way that not only brings the two closer together, but also is to the benefit of the larger world she discovers along the way. I was hoping for simply a beautiful animated adventure when I walked into “Epic,” but as I left, I was pleasantly surprised that the film had so much more to say, especially at a time where some filmmakers just hit cruise control, and rely on the tried and true. Thankfully, Wedge doesn’t do that, and he assures that in the future, I’ll be keeping a closer eye on what Blue Sky has to offer.
