Not Quite...

I happened to catch this little animated film that came out at the end of the spring. It came and went, and it seemed like it would either be great or mediocre from the trailers. Yes... Epic...

First things first, the animation, the art direction and the visuals in the film are very pretty. At times it's even stunning, with some very lovely shots (that sadly don't really last too long, given the pacing of this film) and great character design. This is a William Joyce-based story after all, and the animators came up with neat designs for the Leaf Men and all the various creatures. The scale? Yes, it's pretty big, even if the story doesn't match it. It's just pretty to look at, and the way the little creatures see the humans is pulled off well, one of the film's more unique elements.

But the story is pretty rote, with the typical good-vs.-evil plot with a romance between the teen leads shoehorned in. I didn't really connect with the characters that much, even though the writers try hard enough to get some emotional content in there, mostly with M.K.'s relationship with her father or Nod not living up to Ronin's expectations. I felt that the characters were just forgettable and they just lacked depth. I felt that a lot of the elements in this film were basically pulled from other films - especially animated films - and thrown into a blender. I'm okay with ideas reheated from other films, but only when it's done with finesse. For instance, there were many elements in Wreck-It Ralph that were reminiscent of other animated films, even a lot of the classic Disney films... But the characters are well-defined, the writing immerses you into the various video game worlds and it tries other things alongside the tried-and-true things.

It was just bland and kind of hollow. Oddly enough, the comic relief characters didn't annoy me as much as I thought they would. In fact, they can be funny from time to time though Aziz Ansari's slug's voice does tend to get annoying, and it does clash with the fantasy setting. It didn't bother me though, since everything else around them isn't colorful or compelling. But in all, they are in the wrong film and the overall picture has tonal issues. They don't really explore M.K.'s relationship with her father, even though there is stuff in there that's ripe for some good drama, and it ultimately feels out of place in this film.

I'm also surprised that Christoph Waltz delivered the flamboyant evil villain performance in such a by-the-books way. Seriously, he was just another power hungry villain that's all bark and no bite. I liked his design enough, and all the Boggans looked pretty menacing... But again, despite the great design work, the characters themselves didn't seem to have real personalities beyond their looks. It's a shame, because it's a Chris Wedge film and the design is where the effort really went. This could've been a world that you could immerse yourself into, but it's too bad that the story didn't really support it nor did it flesh out much.

Now that's not to say it's bad, it's just on the mediocre side. It's good for a rental, but a film of this scale and the source material they used should've made for something more than a quick watch. It's interesting to note that Fox initially allowed Wedge to shop the adaptation to someone else, and Wedge went to none other than Pixar to make it. Now imagine if Pixar made it: You'd have the lovely look and the character designs, but a compelling story and some good humor, tearjerker moments and everything you'd come to expect from a Pixar film. It also would've been their first adaptation, something they could look into one day.

As a whole, epic this is not. Leaf Men should've been the title for obvious reasons, but the film just smacks of the typical style-over-substance problems. With a sharper script and more-defined characters, this could've been a magical yet compelling animated fantasy for the whole family. Alas, it's just a quick watch...

Animation Box Office Update (May 2013)

Blue Sky's Epic was no dud over the holiday weekend, as expected...

Early on, I had predicted Rio numbers for its entire box office run. It looks like this film will perform just like that colorful comedy did two years ago. Over the weekend, the film took in a solid $33 million. While that isn't terribly great for a big animated release, it's not necessarily bad either. Puss in Boots opened around the same region back in October 2011. Luckily, Fox opted to release this film on Memorial Day weekend, which helped it climb to $42 million. Right now the film is on par with Rio, but it probably won't make as much in the end since big competition is less than a month away...

DreamWorks' The Croods has taken in $563 million to date. It's currently DreamWorks' second highest grossing non-sequel film, behind the original Kung Fu Panda ($631 million) which wasn't a 3D film. I bet 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks (especially!) are happy... A real rebound after Rise of the Guardians, a film that (in my opinion) deserved to be the bigger hit. From the beginning it looked like The Croods would essentially be the DreamWorks equivalent Ice Age franchise, a safe bet that'll explode at the international box office. I'm surprised DreamWorks hasn't already announced a third film, but the sequel is already in the works and a TV show is on its way...

The other animated release that came out this year happened to be a clunker... Escape from Planet Earth did solid business domestically given the lack of family-friendly fare after the relatively unsuccessful re-release of Monsters, Inc. back in December. I didn't expect it to be a hit to begin with, since it looked like strictly kids stuff... But it couldn't double that $40 million budget. For some odd reason, the other films Weinstein planned to release this year have been off the schedule for months: Leo the Lion, The Trick or Treaters and Santapprentice.

Will the animation box office get a real boost in the coming months? Monsters University is undoubtedly going to be big, but how big? I keep thinking $300 million domestically since this is a follow up to a beloved Pixar film that came out nearly 12 years ago. I think that it'll get a Toy Story 3-sized boost since nostalgic teenagers and college students will flock to see this, not to mention it's a college film! But Box Office Mojo and BoxOffice.com's predictions say otherwise... I think it'll clear $300 million. Despicable Me 2 on the other hand might as well, but I really can't see it hitting $300 million... I think it'll come very very close though. But whatever they make, they'll be BIG. Of course it'll be exciting to track both...

Turbo ought to do well enough since it looks like fun, despite being crammed between Despicable Me 2 and The Smurfs 2, which of course will do good business. Planes will cap off the summer with a good-sized gross... $100 million might even be in play for this one.

What are your predictions? Will Epic gross as much as Rio? Or not? What are you predicting for Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 and Turbo? Sound off below!

Epic? Sort Of...

The new trailer for Blue Sky Studios' Epic (based on William Joyce's The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs) is currently available on Apple, and I must say, it is an impressive trailer much like the first one, but it isn't without some problems.

Pros:
- Like the first trailer, the action and staging is very impressive. The world they've created here is nice to look at, and the insect-like creatures have creative designs. If the story falls flat with this film, it'll still wow in the visual department.
- There's more focus on the young girl we briefly see in the first trailer, and her father.
- The tone of this trailer is hardly comedic or silly, which I like so far. How the actual film will feel, may not be the same, but I like the mood they went for here. Again, I liked that about the first trailer.

Cons:
- The trailer is still a little vague, especially on the villainous creatures that we see. Again, we'll probably get more details on these characters in the next trailer since it'll be a while.
- The slug... Oh man... The slug. His brief lines at the end of the first trailer weren't bad enough, I can already tell that he's going to be the character that's going to make me cringe. He's not funny, he's like an awkward critter trying to be funny, like a lot of other animated films. Here's hoping he won't be in it that much.

Overall, a good trailer but there's still a lot more that should be covered next time around such as the villains. I'm just hoping that the story matches the scope of the film, but I've said this back when the first trailer came out, this looks like Blue Sky Studios' most ambitious project yet. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

What did you think of the trailer?