Epic

Calling Epic "epic" doesn't do it justice

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Mother nature is hiding more than you'd expect

When thinking of what rating I should assign Epic, the answer became obvious in no time. I simply asked myself two questions. The first: "What did I dislike about the movie?" The second: "What would I change in this movie?" The response to both: virtually nothing. Because of that, Epic gets a perfect 5/5 rating. And here's my defense.

But first, some exposition. Imagine in your nearest woods is a Lilliputian society that defends nature as we know it, as well as an opposite force that attempts to destroy it. Slugs and snails can talk, crows and hummingbirds are the animals used when riding into battle, and the miniature humans refer to us full-sized humans as "stompers." In Epic, only one man believes that, and when his estranged daughter comes to visit, she's not exactly content with that, as one can imagine. But as it turns out, he's 100% right. 

The daughter is Mary Katherine (voiced by Amanda Seyfried), or as she calls herself, M.K. When she concludes her attempt to reconnect with her father is futile, she departs, only to be shrunken to the size of the small soldiers of nature during their battle. Eventually, M.K. becomes quintessential in the soldiers' attempt to bring life back to the forrest. Among her allies are a young and restless soldier (Josh Hutcherson), his stern guardian and fellow soldier (Colin Farrell), a good-intentioned but easily frightened snail (Chris O'Dowd, the cop from Bridesmaids), and a hilariously flirtatious slug (Aziz Ansari).

Epic is so much more than a family movie. Yes, the family was the priority demographic, but as a film lover, I saw themes, characters, and imagery that reminded me of such films as A Bug's Life, The Lion King, and even Avatar, The Hunger Games, and The Wizard of Oz. Epic has an impressive balance of comedy and drama, action and story, darkness and light-heartedness. With that much depth, I would in fact place it alongside animated greats like The Lion King, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo. 

Family films today are becoming increasingly more catered to be "fun for all ages," but it's a rarity when one succeeds as well as Epic does. Well-made and certainly made to appeal to pretty much everyone, Epic succeeds admirably, and well beyond any words I can use to describe it on this blog.

Rating: 5/5