Epic

Cast of Characters:
Ronin - voiced by Colin Farrell
Nod - voiced by Josh Hutcherson
Mary “M.K.” Katherine - voiced by Amanda Seyfried
Mandrake - voiced by Christoph Waltz
Mub - voiced by Aziz Ansari
Grub - voiced by Chris O’Dowd
Bufo - voiced by Pitbull
Professor Bomba - voiced by Jason Sudeikis
Nim Galuu - voiced by Steven Tyler
Queen Tara - voiced by Beyonce Knowles

Director - Chris Wedge
Screenplay - William Joyce, James V. Hart, Daniel Shere, Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember
Based on the children’s book “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs” by William Joyce
Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language

      

      Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, and Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz lend their voices in the new animated feature film, Epic, from the same creative minds that brought you Ice Age and the underrated Robots. Is this film worth taking your family out to see during Memorial Day Weekend, or should you give this one a pass?

      Epic opens with Mary Katherine (voiced by Amanda Seyfried), a near-20's teenager, visiting her odd and eccentric scientist father, Professor Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis). For quite some time, Professor Bomba has been convinced, through research of his, that there is a world within their own world of tiny human soldiers. Mary Katherine is obviously skeptical of her father, but unbeknownst to both of them, Professor Bomba is right. Within their world, there lives two races, one good and one evil. The Leafmen are protectors of the forest led by Ronin (voiced by Colin Farrell) and all guided under the rule of Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce Knowles). Nearby the Leafmen live the Boogans, led by Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz), the Boogans ruthless leader determined to destroy the forest.

    One day while Mary Katherine is out chasing after her dog that broke out of the house, she finds a dying Queen Tara who was brought down by Mandrake's army. Tara gives Mary Katherine a mysterious pod and uses what power she has left to shrink her. Mary Katherine, clearly confused by what just happened, is met by Ronin along with Grub (voiced by Chris O'Dowd) and Mub (voiced by Aziz Ansari), a snail and slug respectively that are both given the responsibility of guarding the pod. She joins the three hoping they can help her find Nim Galuu (voiced by Steven Tyler), the wise, old Glowworm sage of the forest who Queen Tara told Mary Katherine to give the pod. Together, along with Nod (voiced by Josh Hutcherson), a feisty and independent young soldier under Ronin's guidance, the Leafmen must protect the pod, which contains the next heir to rule the forest, from Mandrake and his army of Boogans.

      I'm of two minds on this film. On the one hand, the gorgeous visuals and animation provide a vibrant look and feel to this film that's as good as any other animated film out there today. Along with the visuals, there are few standout voice-over performances from Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell and in particular Christoph Waltz, who like Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins, has a voice just perfect for voice-over. On the other hand, the story is a tad bit mediocre and, other than the fact that it borrowed a little bit too much from Fern Gully, doesn't really pick up the pace until about halfway through the film. This isn't the first animated film to deal with the lead girl with a dead mother angle, and it seems they all have to have the token two wisecracking pair of creatures. Also, in spite of the standout voice-over work, I felt both Beyonce and Steven Tyler didn't really add much. Being an Aerosmith fan myself, I know full well how animated Tyler can get, and you'd think he'd be perfect here. That being said, they both just seemed to phone it in.

      All things considered, I'm still gonna give this a mild recommendation. In spite of a few bland voice-over performances, and the somewhat average story, out of all the films out right now, this is one of the few the whole family can see, that's including the little ones. The animation is excellent and there are some terrific action sequences. The kids will also get a kick out of Professor Bomba, the Grub and Mub creatures, as well as finding Christoph Waltz's Mandrake to be an effectively scary cartoon villain. If you're looking for a film to take the whole family out to see this holiday weekend, in spite of its flaws, this film is still worth a watch. I give Epic a B (★★★).