Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios,
Beyoncé Knowles, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Knoxville, Aziz Ansari, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Judah Friedlander, Blake Anderson
Mary Katherine (who now calls herself M.K.), Amanda Seyfried, is a typical teen-age girl, growing up and pulling away from her Dad, who is obsessed with the idea of a land of tiny creatures who live behind their home. It turns out he is right, as M.K. is shrunk to tiny size by the dying Queen, and tasked with taking the pod to the center of the forest to be bathed in the light of the brightest night’s moon despite the efforts of the bad guys to stop that from happening. If she succeeds, she can save life in the forest, but if she fails, it’s the end of the line for the mystical creatures. Finding some help in unusual places, M.K. sets off on her quest, and perhaps to find herself in the bargain.
This animated film by Fox is one of the cutest of the recent crop. It’s not that unique, as this scenario has played out many times before, but the kids are sure to enjoy this one. The animation is good, and the story is decent, and this is a really pretty film to watch. The leafmen are fun heroes, especially Ronin (Colin Farrell) and M.K. is a strong female lead. There’s lots of good positive messages for the kids and it’s a story that I think can keep them interested. I know my grandkids enjoyed it. For an adult audience, it might not appeal to everybody, as it’s a very familiar tale, unless, of course, if you’re a fan of animation and want to see the craft well produced.
The best things of the film are definitely the spectacular job of animating this story, the relationship between the characters is very good, there are fun sidekicks like a couple of mollusks and of course the ever present pet dog (ala Honey I Shrunk the Kids) to put fear into the little creatures. Blue Sky Productions has shown that they are ready to take on Dreamworks and Pixar at making good quality animated action stories for families. I really enjoyed this film.
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