Epic (2013)
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Epic Movie Review
Epic is a 2013 animated fantasy film directed by Chris Wedge. It is one of the best films that Blue Sky Studios has ever produced.
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“Just because you haven’t seen something
doesn’t mean it’s not there“
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When Mary, a 17-year-old teenager, shrinks in size, she discovers a world inhabited by strange creatures. Soon, she finds herself reluctantly pulled into a battle between good and evil forces. I watched this flick back when it came out and I found it solid, but upon a second watch, now I find it to be not only very good, but also one of the very best that this studio has ever put out.
One of my many issues with today’s animated movies is that those that have the potential for an ecological message fail hard at that, especially was that the case with ‘The Lorax’. This is why Epic felt different as it’s thematically much more nuanced and sophisticated than its many counterparts, and simply the appreciation and importance of nature powers this entire movie beautifully.
What is even more impressive is the world building. Wow, is this movie intricately built and complex in its many races of creatures, their dynamics, relationships and the world surrounding them. The Boggans definitely seemed overly cartoony in their obvious villainous goal, but they were still competent villains and their appearance was very memorable.
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The Leafmen are these tiny soldiers protecting their forest and everything surrounding them in particular was highly intriguing. Them riding birds was very cute and the scene with the deer was powerful and enchanting. They played up their small size so well in both the action and the humor department with the highlight being that sequence with the dangerous mouse.
Mary Katherine or M.K. is a pretty solid protagonist and I found her amazement, but also fear of this new world and her new miniature size very believable and relatable. Her love interest Nod is also fine and their romance was a bit rushed, but overall quite solid. The professor is a typical scientist character, but he works in the context of the story. The same goes for the two slugs. Both stand for standard animal sidekicks, but some of their lines were admittedly very amusing.
Epic definitely stumbles a bit in its second half. The beginning is, with the lack of a better word, truly epic. It had so much potential that the eventual movie that sprang from it never could compete. This is a problem with an overly imaginative, rich world. It needs a television series more so than a feature movie as no amount of film runtime could be enough for all of these creatures and characters. The plot overall was fine, but certainly not as great as the world and the characters that inhabit this story.
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Epic has absolutely gorgeous animation. This is the best-looking forest movie since Disney’s ‘Tarzan’ as not since that classic have the action scenes on treetops looked as incredible as they do here. The battles overall are superbly executed throughout. The creature designs are excellent, the score is wonderful and the movie has some genuinely poetic moments in terms of visual style, score and naturalistic imagery. I just wish that Chris Wedge’s direction was better and that the film’s tone and target demographic were more clearly defined as it never decided if it wants to be funny or serious, sophisticated or surface-level.
