Epic

Well I admit I was not impressed when I saw the trailer for "Epic."  First Thought:  "They've gone and done a computer animated version of 'Ferngully,' fracking wondaIdon'giveableepful."  Second Thought:  "Are they trying to make comedy relief that is worse than Jar Jar Binks?"  Third Thought:  "I wish film makers would stop banking on parents wanting the kids out of the house for any excuse."

Now excuse me if I find myself a huge heaping of crow before me.  I'll chow down on it discreetly as we talk I promise.  See, I was wrong.  Epic is actually a fairly decent film.  It has some good characters, good chemistry, and a decent sense of relationships between the characters.  It's not the best script ever but it's engaging.  A young girl gets back to her estranged father who lives in a spooky house in the middle of the woods.  They obviously love each other but his obsession with finding little people drives a wedge between them.  Meanwhile, there are little people and they are fighting a war against the forces of rot.  Their queen is about to pass on her power to the next generation and her guard, including the man who loves her, try their best to protect her.  Ronin, her lover, is also finds himself responsible for a dead friend's son who's gifted but truly irresponsible.  These two stories collide when the rot makes their big play to take over the woods.  Now the girl is shrunk to little person size and the queen is dead.  People have to work out their feelings on the run though as they try to keep the balance of the forest.

I like that this film does take the time to process the character's feelings over these events.  A lot of film the death of a father or mother or wife is something of a maguffin.  It's a reason to action but never a reason to feel.  Here, you really do feel the loss of the queen among her subjects.  Even the main bad guy feels the loss of his own son which powers him to even greater evil.

Oh, and the animation is pretty darn good.  Just had to say that.

So ignore the snail and slug comedy relief and watch Epic.  It's a pretty good film whether you are a child or not.