Epic

The forest is home to a vast multitude of creatures big and small. Living among the foliage is also an entire ecosystem of tiny forest warriors that protect the land from the venomous spreading rot that plagues the dark depths of the woods. It’s a constant battle between good and evil that goes unseen by humans, that is, until a girl by the name of M.K. is magically shrunk down to their world and is the key to ridding the world of rot once and for all.

Epic is from Blue Sky Studios, the same animation studio that brought us the Ice Age franchise, and it pits the heroic Leafmen against the evil Boggans. It’s your stereotypical story of good versus evil mixed in with some environmental awareness. The Leafmen are led by Ronin (Colin Farrell), a seasoned veteran warrior and lover of the Queen. There’s also the young and inexperienced Nod (Josh Hutcherson) who tends to cause more harm than good, even though his heart is in the right place. Fighting against them are the Boggans, led by the evil Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) who will stop at nothing to see the forest destroyed. When M.K (Amanda Seyfried) is dragged down to their world, she must protect the last living pod that the Queen handpicked to succeed her or else the entire forest will succumb to Mandrake’s rot.

The plot is about as basic as you can get. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the young children watching, it’s not exactly riveting for the parents accompanying them. Epic somewhat feels like it does the bare minimum needed to get by, both in storytelling and in animation. That may have been fine years ago, but with studios such as Pixar and DreamWorks Animation delivering high quality titles, it becomes much more noticeable in today’s age. The colors look washed out and visuals don’t look nearly as detailed. Then there’s Waltz, whose Mandrake isn’t nearly as menacing enough. Clearly he wasn’t used to his full potential.

There are some genuinely entertaining moments, though. The slug and snail duo Mub (Aziz Ansari) and Grub (Chris O’Dowd) are absolutely hilarious and bring a refreshing bout of comedy to the screen. If there’s one reason to see the film, it’s them.

In the end, Epic feels like a wasted opportunity. It’s enjoyable on the most basic level and kids will get a quick thrill out of it, but it could have been so much more. The potential is there, along with a pretty solid cast. If only it was fully realized, then it could have been a truly epic film.