 ***PLEASE NOTE: A Blu-ray 3D disc is only compatible with 3D Blu-ray players.*** Tagline: Discover a world from the creators of Ice Age and Rio From the creators of Ice Age comes the year's funniest, most exhilarating animated adventure! Transported to a magical world, a teenager (Amanda Seyfried) is recruited by a nature spirit, Queen Tara (Beyoncé Knowles), to help the "Leafmen" save their existence - and ours - from evil warriors. The whole family will love this fast-paced thrill-ride, with its astonishing animation and an all-star voice cast that includes Colin Farrell, Oscar Winner Christoph Waltz and Steven Tyler! Storyline: Young Mary Katherine (M.K.) returns to her eccentric scientist father's home, but his all-consuming quest to discover a tiny civilization in the neighboring forest drives them apart. However, M.K. soon finds herself shrunken down by Queen Tara of that forest, mortally wounded by the putrefying Boggans, and charged to deliver a pod bearing the new Queen to safety. Together with a veteran Leafman warrior, two goofy mollusks and a young maverick, M.K. agrees to help. As the villainous Boggan leader, Mandrake closes in, M.K. and her new friends must draw on the best of themselves together and discover what they have to save their world. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com) Ronin Ronin is the chisel-faced, battle-hardened leader of the Leafmen, the elite corps of warriors sworn to protect all life in the forest. He lives by the creed: “many leaves, one tree” and wouldn’t think twice about putting his own life on the line for someone he cares about. When the forest and his beloved Queen come under siege, Ronin rallies the Leafmen into action with his bravery and wry humor. Bomba A quirky, absent-minded professor, Bomba has grown out of touch with his now teenage daughter, MK. He lives in the middle of the forest, in a rundown house, where he surrounds himself with bizarre homemade gadgets. His life has been dedicated to – some would say obsessed with – studying –a civilization of tiny people he’s never seen. But when MK disappears, Bomba must put his own dreams under the microscope, and find what he’s really always been looking for. Nod Rakish and handsome, Nod is all about bucking the rules and flying solo. But his brazen individualism doesn't square with the Leafmen’s ideals of teamwork and unity, so he quits the squad. After a teenage girl enters his world – and when the stakes are high – Nod discovers what it takes to be a true hero. Mary Katherine (MK) Mary Katherine (she prefers “MK”) is a smart, spirited and headstrong 17-year-old who finds herself on the journey of a lifetime. After returning to her childhood home to connect with her estranged father, MK loses patience with his endless stories of the “tiny people” who live in the woods. But when she is magically transported into the Leafmen’s world, she gains a new perspective. To find her way home, MK must do more than believe in this world; she’ll have to help save it. Mub & Grub Low on the evolutionary food chain, but high in self-esteem, Mub, a self-characterized “ladies’ man,” and Grub, a wannabe Leafman, are the caretakers of the royal pod that will bloom into the future Queen or King of the forest. Though this slug-and-snail comedy duo is spineless, literally, they show real backbone by joining the quest to save their world. Nim Galuu At first glance, Nim Galuu is the consummate party animal. But don’t let this larger than life caterpillar fool you – his wisdom and practical know-how make him a key behind-the-scenes player in the epic battle to save the forest. Queen Tara Beautiful, agile and strong, Tara isn’t just the Leafmen’s Queen; she’s the life force of the forest, which she presides over with respect, compassion and humor. When Tara finds herself in danger, her unique connection with nature gives her powerful allies. And when all hope seems lost, she summons help from the most surprising of places. Bufo A tough-guy toad, Bufo is a wheeler and dealer who plays all the angles: he profits no matter which side wins or loses. Mandrake Gifted, or cursed, with the ability to bring destruction to anything he touches, Mandrake and his Boggan minions are the arch-nemeses of the Leafmen. Mandrake is tired of hiding in the shadows, and with his son by his side, he plans the ultimate revenge – to claim the forest he believes should have always been his. Epic is a computer-animated adventure fantasy filled with gorgeous scenery, nice animated effects, plenty of action, and a somewhat familiar plot about the existence of a society of tiny people. Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried), or M.K. as she likes to be called, has recently come to live with her dad Bomba (Jason Sudeikis) in a ramshackle house in the middle of nowhere. Obsessed with proving the existence of a society of tiny guardians of the forest called Leafmen, who are responsible for maintaining balance by keeping the Boggans from spreading blight throughout the forest, M.K.'s dad has little time for a daughter or the realities of everyday life. A chance event lands M.K. right in the middle of the Leafmen's society, where she quickly develops a whole new appreciation for her father's eccentricities. She finds herself charged by the Leafmen's queen (Beyoncé Knowles) with a difficult task that will mean the difference between preservation and destruction for the forest. M.K. joins forces with an assortment of unlikely heroes, including slug and snail duo Mub and Grub (Aziz Ansari and Chris O'Dowd), overzealous Leafmen commander General Ronin (Colin Farrell), and Nod (Josh Hutcherson), a soldier with a bad habit of questioning authority. Their perilous journey introduces M.K. to a strange new breed of enemy and a whole new way of thinking. Loosely based on William Joyce's book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, the film shares its premise--a society of tiny people tries to thrive without drawing the attention of the larger humans--with films like the Tinker Bell movies and The Secret World of Arrietty. What's unique about Epic is that it's just as much action film as fantasy. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Casey Broadwater on August 21, 2013 -- The title of Blue Sky Studios' latest animated film seems to be both ironic and sincere, the former because Epic is concerned with an incredibly small-scale view—it stars little woodland creatures and a race of tiny, fairy-like humans—and the latter because the film tries to mount a large-scale action-adventure that pits the forces of leafy-green goodness against the minions of rot and decay. What the film isn't is epic in the hyperbolic modern sense, where the word is used interchangeably with "awesome," another word which has lost its original punch and scope. As an animated CGI family feature, Epic is decidedly mid-sized, not nearly as grand or inspiring as the Pixar productions and animated classics it imitates. There's a lot of A Bug's Life here, more than a little FernGully, and even some Secret of NIMH, which is to say that Epic is hardly original in its eco- minded exploration of the world beneath our feet. Drama-wise, it plays it safe too, ticking all the expected narrative boxes and giving the impression of a story told by formula rather than from the heart. Still, and this is a big still, I have no doubt that children—the intended audience—will like it. It's colorful and well-paced, there are funny sidekick characters, and it establishes a world that's fertile for imaginative post-viewing play. Epic might not go down as one of the all-time animated greats, but it's a decent summer diversion for kids young enough to enjoy it. Amanda Seyfried voices the teenaged redhead Mary Katherine—she goes by "M.K."—who, after the death of her mother, travels to the country to live with her estranged dad, Professor Bomba (Saturday Night Live's Jason Sudeikis), an absentminded biologist whose weird theoretical obsessions led both his wife and the scientific community to ostracize him. See, Bomba "has a delusional belief in an advanced society of tiny people living in the woods," and he spends his days setting up cameras and traipsing through the forest wearing steampunk-ish microscope goggles, hoping to catch a glimpse of these hypothesized creatures. Of course, he's right. They're real—we wouldn't have a movie otherwise—and not only that, but they're also responsible for maintaining the balance of life and death in the forest. And this balance is highly unstable at the moment. The two-inch-high Queen Tara (Beyoncé Knowles), who has the magical power to create new greenery with a wave of her hand, is in the process of selecting her heir from a group of flower pods growing on lily pads. The evil oogedy-boogedy Boggans, though, led by their imp king Mandrake (Christoph Waltz), want a forest world overrun with rot and vermin, and conspire to steal the chosen pod, shooting Tara off the hummingbird piloted by her bodyguard Ronin (Collin Farrell), commander of the Leafmen army. While running away from her dad's home, M.K. happens to witness Tara falling to the ground, still clutching the pod, and before she knows it, the queen has shrunk her down to 1:36 scale and—with her dying breath—commanded her to deliver the pod to the glowworm Nim Galuu (Steven Tyler), a forest historian/musical showman who will apparently know what to do with it. M.K. is naturally freaked out at first at having been miniaturized Honey I Shrunk the Kids-style, but since she believes Galuu is the only one who can restore her to her proper height, she's pretty much forced to go along on the quest. She's helped in her journey by the stoic Ronin, the goofy pod guardians Mub (Aziz Ansari) and Grub (Chris O'Dowd)—a smooth-talking slug and a chubby snail, respectively—and an arrogant, independent young Leafman named Nod (Josh Hutcherson), who will inevitably become M.K.'s love interest. He's also the subject of the film's main subplot, which has him leaving the Leafmen and striking out on his own for a short-lived career as a "bird-racer." (Think the pod-racing scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.) In due time, he learns the valuable life-lesson that is the Leafmen's motto: "Many leaves, one tree. We're all individuals, but we're still connected." Based loosely on a children's book by William Joyce, the film was apparently written by committee, with—including Joyce—five screenwriters credited. The plot is definitely a by-the-numbers affair, and offers few surprises, but it hums along nicely, never flagging in its kid-friendly energy. There are frantic battle scenes between the Boggans and the Leafmen, a semi-scary encounter with a rat, and even a musical number—courtesy of Steven Tyler—although this last addition is arguably unneeded and out of place. On the whole, the voice acting is strong, with Django Unchained's Christoph Waltz making a fine villain and Aziz Ansari stealing the show whenever his suave-but-inept slug is on screen. This is all routine animated movie stuff—celebrity voices, colorful action, PG-rated comedy—but Epic does differentiate itself somewhat in the fun way that it illustrates the differences in physics and physical ability between the human-sized "stompers" like Professor Bomba, who appear to move in slow motion from the perspective of the tiny creatures on the ground, and the fleet-footed Leafmen, who can run and jump and lift with an impressiveness that's only possible on their scale. They've basically got the strength of ants and the speed of flies, and I imagine four-to-ten-year-olds might think that's pretty cool. Epic isn't quite as epic as its title would suggest, and it offers little outside the animated CGI family feature norm—recognizable celebrity voice actors, simple themes, cute sidekicks—but, if nothing else, it at least has the energy and excitement needed to keep kids occupied with the story. (And maybe keep them occupied for a few hours later, re-enacting their favorite scenes.) Adults, meanwhile, will probably feel a lingering sense of déjà vu noticing how much of this movie has been recycled from other, better family films. High definition eye-candyholics and home theater junkies may get a kick from the grade-A video/audio presentation, though—and the 3D is aces too—which might tip Epic into the "purchase" category for some. [CSW] -3.8- "Epic" was a really awesome movie that totally deserves so much more than just an Oscar win as the best "all-ages" movies of the year. Even if you aren't a kid anymore or are a teen now or an adult, then go see it. It's not just for kids. I really liked it especially in 3D, so if you have a choice, see it in 3D. Cast Notes: Blake Anderson (Dagda [voice]), Aziz Ansari (Mub [voice]), Allison Bills (Dandelion Jinn [voice]), Jim Conroy (Race Announcer [voice]), Todd Cummings (Fruit Fly [Old] [voice]), John DiMaggio (Pinecone Jinn [voice]), Troy Evans (Thistle Jinn [voice]), Colin Farrell (Ronin [voice]), Jason Fricchione (Bufo's Goon [voice]), Judah Friedlander (Taxi Driver [voice]), Helen Hong (Thistle Lady [voice]), Josh Hutcherson (Nod [voice]), Kelly Keaton (Berry Lady [voice]), Emma Kenney (Marigold Girl [voice]), Kyle Kinane (Biker Dude [voice]), Beyoncé Knowles (Queen Tara [voice]), Amanda Seyfried (Mary Katherine [M.K.] [voice]). IMDb Rating (06/06/13): 6.8/10 from 6,631 users
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