Review of Epic (2013) by Mike D — 28 Dec 2014

There has been no shortage of animated fantasy films of late, and Twentieth Century FOX's 2013 release 'Epic' was one that seemed to get lost in the shuffle. This is not for no reason, as the film suffers from a generic plot, largely blasé characters and a weak soundtrack (especially considering Beyoncé is among the vocal talents). In a nutshell, 'Epic' is about a teenage girl who is forced to live with her eccentric, woodland sprite-obsessed father after the death of her mother, who then is magically shrunk and must figure out how to live among the Leafmen, their friends and their foes. Now, this doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, and that may be the case. But for that reason, every other aspect of this movie should be great, when in reality, this is not the case. The vocal talents are average, with Colin Farrell, Josh Hutchinson and Amanda Seyfried leading the pack. The animation is good, but nothing amazing, although it can be difficult to create a world as lively as a forest in CGI, so that's understandable.

While the plot is underwhelming, as well, there are positive aspects, including the evolution of the relationship between daughter (M.K.) and father (Professor Bomba). Additionally, the runtime is a cool 102 minutes, so there's really no unnecessary scenes that were included. In short, 'Epic' does not live up to its name, but it could be a lot worse.