For the love of movies...: Movie Review: EPIC (2013)

“Just because you haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it’s not there.” – Professor Bomba

The quoted dialogue above sounds like a line from a horror film. But it’s not, actually.

Several weeks ago, before the typhoon Maring hits the entire Philippines with its unlimited rainfall, I got the chance to watch a movie I downloaded online. This was done at the comfort of my own bedroom or so to speak. Alas, at the time when this movie was still making a fuss at the social media sites and the time it was still being shown at the theaters, I had no chance to watch it and so I just had to list it down to my “movie bucket-list” for future viewing. And to make the story short, I was able to finally watch it. It is entitled EPIC.

EPIC is a 3D animated film that is of adventure-comedy-ish type. It reveals a fantasy world that tells the story of an ongoing battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. Of course, the good forces are the ones who keep the natural world alive while those who wish to destroy it are the bad forces.

Personally, when I heard of the title EPIC, I was thinking of extremely large scale type of storylines such as Lord of the Rings, The Terminator, or The Matrix. Never did I think that it is an animated fantasy film until I watched the trailer on Youtube (see below). And besides, I think the use of the word “Epic” is somewhat strange for an animated film title. Nevertheless, I find it intriguing enough when I found out that this movie involves a group of small creatures living in the forest. And by the way, I have my own reasons why I use capital letters when mentioning the movie title. J

Anyhow, I mentioned earlier that this film involves small creatures in the forest. And when I say creature, I meant human-like creatures. Just tiny ones. Interesting, right? Suddenly reminds me of Thumbelina. J

(photo from Google.com)

Moving on, based on Wikipedia, this film is loosely based on William Joyce’s children’s book entitled “The Leaf Men and The Brave Good Bugs.” It was produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Chris Wedge, who happens to be the same director of Ice Age and Rio. This film stars the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O'Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, with Steven Tyler and Beyoncé Knowles. The film was released on May 24, 2013.

The movie started with a long shot of the forest’s greenery and a voice over of a girl, saying:

“Somebody told me that if you stand still in the forest long enough, you’ll see signs of hidden struggle raging between the forces of life and decay. That the survival of the forest itself depends on the outcome. And that the good guys need all the help they can get. And that if you don’t believe it, take a close look. And if you still don’t, take a closer look.”

It was implied at the later part of the film that the owner of that voice over is actually MK (or Mary Katherine voiced by Amanda Seyfried), one of the main characters. In the film, she just moved to her father’s place since her mom just passed away. This father of her is an unconventional scientist named Professor Bomba whom she finds as a weirdo because he has been searching for tiny human soldiers eversince. Of course, MK does not believe in her father’s nonsense researches. She thought that all those were just out of her father’s oddity. Eventually, it was revealed that the very same oddity of her father was the same reason why her mom had to ditch him.

Chris Wedge
(photo from Google.com)

Meanwhile, it turned out that the Leafmen are actually real. They’re soldiers who protect the forest, where Bomba lives nearby, from ugly creatures called Boggans and their wicked leader named Mandrake.

The conflict begins when Queen Tara, queen of the forest (voiced by Beyonce Knowles), Leafmen leader Ronin, and her bodyguards were attacked by overwhelming number of Boggans while she’s still in the moment of choosing an heir for the forest. Unfortunately, at that encounter, the queen got fatally wounded when Mandrake shoots her with an arrow.

In the interim, MK decides to leave and left a note on one of her father’s computer monitors. It was indicated in the film that MK is annoyed at her father. But before she can leave, their three-legged dog made her run into the woods in which she finds herself magically transported into this secret world of Leafmen where she saw the dying Queen Tara falling from out of nowhere. And before Tara dies, she gives the smallest pod, the heir, to MK for safekeeping asking her to bring it Nim Galuu (voiced by Steven Styler) and the adventure of saving their world – and our world – starts.

I’ll leave the rest of the story on your imagination or better yet watch the film.

Out of the narration I made for this film’s plot, you might already have an idea of what this film is all about. Yep, I’m telling you that this film has a strong, fierce woman as a central character. Pretty much like the film Brave but with a different storyline, of course. And if you’re quite the feminist type, you might agree with me that the era of damsels-in-distress as the central theme in animated films sending the message “Someday, my Prince Charming will come and save me,” has taken the backseat. Thanks to films like this that feature heroine/s.

Movie-goers are excited to see inspiring female protagonists on-screen because it reflects our modern world where women have choices and our dreams can be limitless. As a woman myself, I can personally attest to this. Moreover, this film does not only give lessons about being a strong girl/woman but it can also make us realize the value of family. Most of all, this movie gives emphasis to the importance of nature – it’s composition, the balance in ecosystem, and all other stuff that mostly science can explain.

Just like any other animation, this film had to put some exaggeration in terms of computer-generated shots and angles to make it more lively and eye-stimulating. Well, that is needless to say. But my point is, it has some photo-realistic animation and some cool concepts. Take for example, the Leafmen riding hummingbirds like horses. Furthermore, the film was loaded with brilliantly colorful characters, fabulous voice cast and simply impressive animation especially that scene where giant figures in extreme close-up move in slow motion as the tiny heroes scatter about. That’s something fresh, unusual and innovative to my eyes altogether.

Overall, this film is full of fun, sweet-hearted kid-pleaser animation that can be watched together by parents and their kids. Basically, it has enough excitement and visual elegance to appeal movie-goers of any age. Indeed, a film I recommend to everyone. J

(Below are some screen shots I grabbed from the film to give you some visual ideas of those scenes I mentioned above. Movie was downloaded from Yify-torrents.)