Epic takes place in the heart of the forest, where the universal war between the forces of good/evil, life/death and light/darkness unfolds on the smallest of scales. That task of guarding and protecting the woods falls to the Leaf Men, an army of tiny human soldiers that are tiny enough to be able to ride hummingbirds and leap about like grasshoppers. On the opposite side are the Boggens, a nasty race of similar pint-sized creatures that drain the life-force from anything they touch.
These themes are presented in a way that’s digestible for kids (while adults will get the deeper meaning), with fantasy explanations; like, how the Leaf Men, Boggans, and other minuscule creatures operate in a different time dimension – hence, they appear to move ultra-fast to comparatively humongous animals like humans (a.k.a “Stompers”). Problem is, whenever Epic has a chance to dig deep into these ideas – or allow for moments of genuine poignancy – it usually chooses to move on, in order to fill in all the boxes on the standard kid’s movie checklist. Nonetheless, the core of the story’s meaning comes through strong enough to make this a solid film for the whole family.
The animation in Epic is neither as expressive nor tangible as it could’ve been, but it is otherwise satisfactory enough and gives a glowering storybook quality to the visuals. What proves to be far more impressive are the film’s action sequences, which take advantage of the tiny characters’ POV.
Director Chris Wedge falls into the common animator’s trap of making the “human” characters a lot duller than the nonhuman creepy-crawlies. Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson and Christoph Waltz join Seyfried in the voice-over corps, and their line readings are often more spirited than the visuals. Grade: C+ (Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language.) Epic Trailer
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