Review of Epic (2013) by Liam C — 22 Oct 2014

Epic is a beautifully animated feature with good characters and an interesting story, it started out very predictably but soon went on to surprise me and I really liked it.

The movie opens very predictably and I thought I knew what the story would be about and where it would go, there were some cliches here and there, most notably the overplayed estranged parent card but before long it felt genuine as this movie gave some time to character development and by the end of the movie I remembered all of the characters by name, which I think is saying a lot.

I really did like all the characters in this, they were all well written and all had something to them to stand out without ever feeling fake or trying too hard. The slug and the snail felt really out of place when I watched the trailer awhile ago but in the movie they fit well and were actually funny without feeling shoehorned in, even the dog was funny and I really liked the Queen, I thought she was cool. The good voices do bring the characters to life. I won't name them all because they all do a great job even if they aren't in it a lot, the voice actors put in a lot of effort. The bad guy played by Christoph Waltz was interesting, he isn't the deepest character in the world but he at least has a reason to keep on doing what he is doing because of something happens to him early on during the movie. I thought of a way to make his character sympathetic, which would have been a unique twist but it is fine the way it is.

Even though it's essentially just a back garden I have to say the world they create here is very inventive. From all the different characters to all the different types of characters, it is a very entertaining and visually pleasing world that actually manages to touch on some bigger themes. The movie also takes some risks, something happens to a character at the start and then again later on to someone else and because of the unexpected nature of what happened to the first character, you start to think if it will happen again. It helps that the characters are very unique looking also, the movie has a very unique visual style and it helps the movie stand out, everyone looks unique and the colourful cast really bring the movie to life through beautiful animation.

On the whole, Epic might not be a revolutionary animated movie but it certainly isn't a bad one. With great characters, beautiful animation and an interesting world, Epic is a very enjoyable experience.