Film Review: "Epic" (2013).

"Discover a world from the creators of Ice Age and Rio" with Epic. This 3D computer-animated action-adventure film directed by Chris Wedge, adapted by William Joyce, James V. Hart, Daniel Shere, Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, based loosely on William Joyce's 1996 children's book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, and produced by Blue Sky Studios. Mary Katherine, or M.K., is a headstrong, spirited teenager who has a strained relationship with her father. She loses patience with her dad's tales of unseen people who live in the woods, but when she is magically transported to that mythic realm, she gains new perspective. M.K. joins a race of beings known as the Leafmen in their battle to protect their queen from their enemies, evil Mandrake and his crew of Boggans.

In 2006, it was reported that Wedge would be directing an animated feature film based on Joyce's children book for Fox Animation. Joyce, who had already collaborated with Wedge as a designer and producer on Robots (2005). At one point, Wedge got permission to find a new home for the film and turned to Pixar, led by John Lasseter, a close friend that Wedge knew from working on Tron (1982). When Pixar tried to close the rights for the film and start development, Fox changed their mind, and the film returned to Fox. Although the film is based on and borrows many characters from Joyce's book, its plot has been significantly changed. In 2009, the film was officially greenlit in 2009, under the title Leaf Men. In May 2012, Fox announced that Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O'Dowd, Jason Sudeikis, Beyoncé Knowles, Thomas F. Wilson, John DiMaggio, Steven Tyler, and Pitbull were cast. In addition, Fox revealed the title and plot details. According to Wedge, he was not satisfied with the renaming, which was decided by the marketing department.

The film stars the voice talents of Seyfried, Hutcherson, Farrell, Waltz, Ansari, O'Dowd, Sudeikis, Knowles, Wilson, DiMaggio, Tyler, and Pitbull. This family delight features wonderful voices from its talent cast with an uncertain blend of sanctimonious principles and Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetics.

With production, writing, acting and animation, this cautionary fable sets an admirable example for the governments of said nations. Yet praising the punctual effort to do something different, the movie falls on all the topics associated with Disney cinema and it doesn't try to hide it. Children would learn more about natural processes from five minutes of Avatar (2009) than they could from all of Epic. Sufficiently entertaining - as long as the adults are ready for a post-movie conversation about the realities of tough environment versus development questions. A self-important environmental message piece that only Sting could love, and hardly an obstacle to the Disney machine, though it is still plesant. The visuals are very pleasing. The story tells a useful lesson, the jungle inhabitants are amusing, and although the movie is not a masterpiece it's pleasant to watch for its humor and sweetness.

Simon says Epic receives:

Also, see my review for Ice Age: Continental Drift.