Flixy Mom is back! Just in time
to help super-busy parents with their holiday shopping. If you’re
wondering which 2013 movies to purchase for your darlings to stuff into their
stockings, check out the first holiday edition of Flixy Mom….starring Epic.
Epic, 2013, 1 hour, 42 min
Rated PG-13 for mild action, some
scary images and brief rude language
Starring Colin Farrell, Beyonce
Knowles, Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz and Steven Tyler
Epic is a CG adventure comedy with stunning animation and an
all-star cast. I saw this film in the theater over the summer, and I wish I had
forked out the extra cash for 3D because the artwork of the rich forest setting
was stunning.
My 7 year-old daughter laughed at
the appropriate parts like the Giggly Girl she is. When I asked GG for a quote,
she said, “I think it was a great movie” and that she really liked it. Personally,
I thought the jokes fell flat especially from the sidekick slug and snail who
were so obviously written in as comic relief. I overheard two other Moms
discussing these very characters afterwards, and they thought they the slug and
snail were funny. Maybe it was just me that didn’t appreciate the film’s humor,
but I found myself checking the time halfway through the movie.
With most action fantasies, the
basic plot was good versus evil. Epic
takes you deep down into the forest underworld where tiny humans live with cute
pinecone and dandelion creatures, among others, birds are as intelligent and tough as horses, and mice and chipmunks are
dangerous. It’s a world where
warriors, the Leafmen, ride hummingbirds and preserve the beauty of the forest.
There’s a wholesome message about protecting Mother Nature’s aesthetics that’s
hard to miss. Except evil doesn’t come in the form of a carbon footprint but
rather a villain named Mandrake (Christoph Waltz). He and his minions try to
destroy the balance of nature with their rot—a fast-growing fungus that kills
and blackens the lush greenness of the land.
Enter the stompers, or humans,
which are tall, slow-talking beasts that are quite comical when we are in the
point of the view of the tiny creatures. MK (Amanda Seyfried) comes to live
with her Dad, a bumbling, genius naturalist who seeks to capture an image of
the Leafmen so people don’t think he’s crazy. MK starts to believe that dear
old Dad is, indeed, cray-cray until she finds herself transported into this
secret universe where she meets Queen Tara (Beyonce, who is as beautiful in Epic as she is in real life), and then
teams up with a rogue Leafmen, Nod (Josh Hutcherson), a Leafmen general, Ronin
(Colin Farrell), the slug and the snail, on an adventure-filled journey to save
their world, and the human world, from the rot-filled wrath of Mandrake.
Now, there’s at least four
creatures to provide the comedy for the movie and my vote goes to the Professor’s
disgusting yet likeable three-legged pug who slobbers his way into your heart. Nim
(Steven Tyler) plays the all-wise keeper of the scrolls, and I believe he didn’t
quite reach his character’s potential. At one point, Nim belts out a rocking
tune that reminds the audience that Steven Tyler, rock-god, is indeed honoring us with a song.
Maybe Epic is not one of those brilliant kids films that adults enjoy
just as much as their offspring, and I don’t like to give it a bad review, so
my official opinion is that it was a good flick and worthy of a place in your family’s
DVD library. Kids from seven to seventeen will enjoy it.
Thanks for stopping by Flixy Mom. Happy Holidays!
