Even if you’re old enough to have seen a story like it before, Chris Wedge’s (Ice Age) 3-D animated forest spectacle Epic is consistently entertaining. Sure, the movie borrows from Gulliver’s Travels, The Borrowers and other tales of tiny folks who influence the world where normal-size folk reign. At least, it’s more ably handled than the last adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels.
This time around Wedge and the crew at Blue Sky animation are working with William Joyce’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs and seem energized by working with something other than another sequel to Ice Age. There’s an energy and a sense of wonder that’s been missing from the umpteenth installment of Ray Romano as a mammoth.
Amanda Seyfried stars as the voice of M.K., a teen who’s annoyed about having to move in with her estranged father, Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis). Her old man has alienated just about everyone else by trying to prove there are thumb-size people living outside his house.
To M.K.’s surprise, she discovers that her father, while nerdy and goofy, isn’t mad.
When a quirk in the world of magic shrinks her to the size of the beings known as the Leaf Men, M.K. discovers that there’s a war for the future of the forest.
Queen Tara (BeyonceKnowles?) has just prepared a new pod that can hold back the forces of decay, if it blooms at midnight on the full moon. Mandrake (Christoph Waltz), the leader of the Boggins, wants to rule the ashes of what might become of the forest, so he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep it from flowering, even if it means the area will look like the aftermath of the Mount St.
Helens eruption.
Working diligently to prevent Mandrake from reaching his goal is the humorless general of the Leaf Men, Ronin (Colin Farrell), and the impulsive warrior Nod (Josh Hutcherson).
The most pleasant surprise is the bizarre but inspired casting of Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler as an all-knowing caterpillar. The moonlighting singer’s voice sounds oddly at home behind the bug’s cuddly exterior, and he demonstrates a warmth that might shock those who saw him as a caustic judge on American Idol.
Epic 82 Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Beyonce Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O’Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler Director: Chris Wedge Rating: Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language Running Time: 102 minutes
MovieStyle, Pages 34 on 05/24/2013