‘Epic’: A largely microscopic adventure

MANILA, Philippines – “Epic” imagines a world hidden from human eyes made up for two kingdoms. One is a kingdom of life and rebirth, the other is of decay and death, and both remain in constant struggle. It isn’t a particularly new idea, but it is in the way that the film zooms into the microscopic. The elements may be too small for the naked eye, but the action is larger than life.

Our human entry point to the world is MK, a teenaged girl who comes home to reconnect with her father. The father’s an academic loon who has lost pretty much everything, his career, his marriage, and what looks to be his sanity, as he attempts to prove that there are little people who fly around on birds and protect the forest. MK is dealing with the death of her mother and the disappointment that she finds her father to be when she is, through a fortuitous series of events, suddenly shrunk to the size of the forest creatures.

Then MK suddenly falls into the center of a struggle, as she is charged to protect the one thing that holds the balance between the survival of the forest and the triumph of evil forces. She meets a snail, a slug, as well as the head of the Leafmen and his protege Nod, who refuses to take up his responsibilities and live up to his potential. 

Things pretty much fall into place here. The girl with an estranged relationship with her father not only comes to understand his obsession, but is suddenly thrust into it. Nod is forced to rethink his running from his responsibility as a Leafman. Basically, you’ve got the parallel coming of age stories that inevitably dovetail, as is how things go in kiddie romps like this.

The snail and the slug are funny, very funny. Voiced by Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari respectively, we get two characters that play upon the strengths of the men behind them. One might recognize the two from sitcoms and other films, and here they get to riff and give the film a lot of character. Ansari in particular gets to be smarmy and slimy as the slug constantly hitting on MK. It plays for great laughs, so long as you don’t think too much about the dynamics of slugs hitting on underage women.

Overwhelming visuals

The film’s real strength is in its intense visual power. The forest coming to life, with all of these small objects, and so many objects moving at such an amazingly fast pace, is a sight to behold. The many action sequences are exciting and fierce and would surely appeal to young viewers.

There is the threat of being overwhelmed by it all. Sometimes the speed and duration at which they move can become taxing, especially in 3-D, but I think younger viewers will be kept enthralled by it.

As a movie for kids, “Epic” hits all the expected beats and delivers an exciting, action-packed adventure. It’s got cute characters and memorable sequences and is propulsive. It’s also got sweet moments that make it endearing.

That said, I couldn’t help but look for that little something else. Kids were reacting to it, and it’s clear that it’s a good movie. But it felt like there could have been more emotional depth to the film. It may be that  its adherence to the necessary tropes makes it predictable and lacking in that special something to set it apart. Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to spectacular visuals, of which this film has many, or of poignant parental conflicts being resolved cutely. Or maybe it might be overselling itself by calling itself “epic.” It’s a good summer flick, but it did not seem so, well, epic.

There’s a lot to like and a lot to appreciate about “Epic,” particularly its visuals and the way that it imagines this world happening around us. There’s entertainment to be had and it’s something that pretty much any kid will have fun with.

Watch the trailer here:

– Rappler.com

(Carljoe Javier teaches at the UP Department of English and Comparative Literature. He has written a few books, most recently the new edition of The Kobayashi Maru of Love available from Visprint Inc. and the upcoming Writing 30 available as an ebook at amazon, ibookstore, b&n andflipreads.com.)