Thanks to MSN Entertainment I had the utter privilige to see the newest Blue Sky animation EPIC this evening.
As a huge fan of all things magical and all things tiny, a film about the magical adventure of a girl, MK (Amanda Seyfried), who is shrunk so that she can enter (and help to save) an enchanting World of the miniature society that inhabits a forest was definitely right up my street!
The setting is absolutely stunning and the 3D is simply breathtaking - from the moment the opening scene appeared onscreen a resounding 'wow' echoed around the cinema and the audience were noticeably taken in by the utter beauty of the film throughout.
Although animated films are always technically 'children's films' i found that Epic was a true delight for children and grown ups alike! The characters are diverse and well-rounded, not the simplified kiddy characters that you might find in some children's films, and the humour was clever and at times laugh-out-loud funny. It has one of the best voiceover casts that i have ever seen; Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell and Christoph Waltz gave stellar, meaningful performances alongside Amanda Seyfried as the lead cast whereas Chris O'Dowd and Aziz Ansari provided great comic relief as the snail/slug duo Mub and Grub. Music artists Beyonce, Pitbull and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith shined as the supporting cast and the whole team seemed to fit together flawlessly.
Obviously as a children's film it is not without its flaws, but in this case the flaws are mostly down to plotholes i.e. the distorted notion of time in order to convenience the plot, but this is a magical world that we are talking about and my suspension of disbelief can be extended to something as mundane as a time scale. Other than that i have no complaints - it moved at exactly the right pace to keep you interested and the bright, colourful, beautiful scenes were perfectly juxtaposed with the drab, decaying scenes that showed us where the bad guys inhabited. Before the three World's (the real world, the 'good' magical world and the 'bad' magical world) are linked together i found that the narrative flowed effortlessly between them; making the audience familiar with each aspect of the film before the time came for the Worlds to merge. This was not what i expected - from viewing the trailer i thought that we would be following MK and our first introduction to the magical Worlds would be once she has shrunk and been forced to enter them; seeing all three from the get-go was definitely the better option! There wasn't one moment of the film where i was bored or clock-watching or waiting for a scene to end, and i think that is all down to the charming cast, fast-paced narrative and, of course, the breathtaking aesthetics.
AND if that wasn't enough, there is an adorable chubby three-legged pug. A misfit animated pug in 3D - What more can you ask for than that?!
One thing that i will say is that i found certain scenes with the 'baddies' a little bit creepy when thinking of it in the eyes of a younger child; there are parts where they appear from the bark in the trees and jump out to the camera and this might be a little bit scary for more sensitive children.
All in all i award Epic ★★★★★ and thoroughly recommend it to both adults and children; a cinema trip for all of the family!
As a huge fan of all things magical and all things tiny, a film about the magical adventure of a girl, MK (Amanda Seyfried), who is shrunk so that she can enter (and help to save) an enchanting World of the miniature society that inhabits a forest was definitely right up my street!
 |
| Beautiful Aesthetics |
Although animated films are always technically 'children's films' i found that Epic was a true delight for children and grown ups alike! The characters are diverse and well-rounded, not the simplified kiddy characters that you might find in some children's films, and the humour was clever and at times laugh-out-loud funny. It has one of the best voiceover casts that i have ever seen; Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell and Christoph Waltz gave stellar, meaningful performances alongside Amanda Seyfried as the lead cast whereas Chris O'Dowd and Aziz Ansari provided great comic relief as the snail/slug duo Mub and Grub. Music artists Beyonce, Pitbull and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith shined as the supporting cast and the whole team seemed to fit together flawlessly.
Obviously as a children's film it is not without its flaws, but in this case the flaws are mostly down to plotholes i.e. the distorted notion of time in order to convenience the plot, but this is a magical world that we are talking about and my suspension of disbelief can be extended to something as mundane as a time scale. Other than that i have no complaints - it moved at exactly the right pace to keep you interested and the bright, colourful, beautiful scenes were perfectly juxtaposed with the drab, decaying scenes that showed us where the bad guys inhabited. Before the three World's (the real world, the 'good' magical world and the 'bad' magical world) are linked together i found that the narrative flowed effortlessly between them; making the audience familiar with each aspect of the film before the time came for the Worlds to merge. This was not what i expected - from viewing the trailer i thought that we would be following MK and our first introduction to the magical Worlds would be once she has shrunk and been forced to enter them; seeing all three from the get-go was definitely the better option! There wasn't one moment of the film where i was bored or clock-watching or waiting for a scene to end, and i think that is all down to the charming cast, fast-paced narrative and, of course, the breathtaking aesthetics.
 |
| Epic Pug |
AND if that wasn't enough, there is an adorable chubby three-legged pug. A misfit animated pug in 3D - What more can you ask for than that?!
One thing that i will say is that i found certain scenes with the 'baddies' a little bit creepy when thinking of it in the eyes of a younger child; there are parts where they appear from the bark in the trees and jump out to the camera and this might be a little bit scary for more sensitive children.
All in all i award Epic ★★★★★ and thoroughly recommend it to both adults and children; a cinema trip for all of the family!
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think? Leave your comments below!