Review of Abominable (2019) by Brunovn00 — 11 Dec 2019

Wow I didn't realize that Dreamworks re-released Missing Link! There was just a 5 month gap!

Wait, this isn't Missing Link, right?

To be fair, while it has the same done to death concept as Missing Link (the characters discover an exoticWow I didn't realize that Dreamworks re-released Missing Link! There was just a 5 month gap!

Wait, this isn't Missing Link, right?

To be fair, while it has the same done to death concept as Missing Link (the characters discover an exotic creature that is trying not to be captured by the villains) it tried to be something different by giving it a "fantasy" twist. The Yeti (whose name is Everest) seems to have like powers or something like that. It seems that the writers thought that they had a good idea on paper, but didn't know how to execute it. So, they executed it in a really bland and formulaic way. I can't say this movie is totally predictable because there were some things that I actually didn't see coming, but those things were really dumb.

First of all: The visuals. They look fine. I thought that at times they looked a bit cheap but I forgive it because this was made with a pretty small budget compared to other Dreamworks movies like HTTYD 3. It might be the least expensive Dreamworks movie since Captain Underpant's insanely low budget (for a mainstream production). There are some nice colors and I think that the presentation is one of the few things I genuinely liked. I wasn't a big fan of the character design however, because the characters, honestly, look like rejects from other movies. Like, the protagonist (Yi) looked like an unused design for Gogo from Big Hero 6. I don't know, I think that the character design is, not bad, but really nothing special and forgettable.

The actual characters...Well...They have no characters. No motivations,nothing. Yi might be the only character that had SOME depth, but in the end even she was really underdeveloped. The rest of the characters are just one note. There's the fat kid who is in the movie just to be annoying with his annoying voice and then there's the other guy, who is like very metrosexual. The generic egocentric guy who only cares about his personal image and has probably some of the worst dialogue. He frequently says things like "Uh this photo isn't getting enough likes" or "Hashtag selfie" or those cringy sh*t. Writers, please, make sure to avoid using any "Internet" terms unless is essential to the plot, because, seriously, the movie won't age well. The villains are just insane. One of them has absolutely no motivation. Like, why does he want Everest? Because he wants to have a collection of rare creatures of something? Even Charles Muntz from UP who also had a similar motivation of "get the creature" was more fleshed out because he actually had a personality. This movie's villains don't have any character. Again, just paper thin characters.

The writing is really bad. Well, it's not like, Arctic Dogs or Uglydolls level of bad, but it is filled with tons of plot conviniences and really bad dialogue. The story, like I said, had really stupid plot conviniences. Everything seems to happen just because the script says so. Many events in the movie don't make sense and don't feel natural. The movie failed to make me be invested in the story and to care about the characters. Everest's powers seem to work just because the plot demands it. I never saw the limits of his powers he could just do whatever he wanted apparently.

Some of the music was decent, but there were times in which the movie used licensed music and...It just didn't work. I start to disagree in the use of licensed music in movies, because there are a lot of movies where they make wrong use of it. By that I mean that sometimes movies put music that doesn't fit the tone or the scene at all and probably did that because the music sounded good. Again, writers and directors: DON'T use licensed music unless the lyrics and music genre feel appropriate.

Overall, I don't consider this "wasted potential" because, honestly, I don't know how to make a great movie out of this done to death concept. What I think it could've been more cool is to make the movie be set in like a village outside the city and make Yi like an orphan. I would've liked that better because Yi's family is basically pointless in the story and the way they end up outside the city is just stupid.

In conclusion: Below average movie. It looks nice but everything else, while not bad, is just...Meh. I never thought I would say this but Missing Link is way better. I don't like Missing Link because it is also a pretty mediocre movie, but at least that one was so much more entertaining and had some good humor, but this one...Just felt like a waste of time.