EPIC (Chris Wedge, 2013)

Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest (1992) more than twenty years ago had a similar storyline as Epic with a young man who grew small instead of Epic’s female teenager. However, times have changed and Ferngully reflects the traditional two-dimensional animation along with the older animated musical style found the live action comedy horror movies The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) or the animated feature film An American Tail (1986). But in a significant change, Epic focuses on the battle between the good and bad of nature, while Ferngully included a more prominent role of humans in the destruction of nature as well and whereas the young man in Ferngully remained much more obscure as a character, Epic’s female protagonist had an extended back story the was as much about her relationship with her father as it was about her coming of age as to nature. And of course, the 3-D computer animation of Epic was clearly much more detailed and fantastical in the style of Avatar (2009) and live action Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) or even the 2-D surrealistic fantasy live action What Dreams May Come (1998) than Epic’s more roughly animated features. The subject matter of death was also much more prominent and emotively displayed in Epic than Ferngully.

It’s hard to deny that the 3-Dimensional flourishes of Epic are wonderful match to the animate fantasy nature of the movie and as a fantasy there is a wide latitude for forgiveness of any seemingly imperfection as opposed to live action. The 3-D format is perfect in its depiction and captures an intimate and finely detailed animated version of the wonderful forest environment offering the movie a fantastical visual delight more than most 3-D movies. The more distanced element of the antagonist being more of a fantasy creature than any reference to a human source somehow diminishes the close connection and personally uncomfortably or embarrassing emotive feeling that arises more in Ferngully. Even the live action teen movie Fly Away Home (1996) that incorporated the disengaged father-daughter element or the mystery conspiracy thriller The Pelican Brief (1993) had a more direct resonating environmental message than Epic that called in questions humanity’s or our role in the destruction of the environment. Perhaps in comparison, WALL*E (2008) has among the best animated message movie regarding the role of humans and the destruction of the planet in an almost epic format that even more ironically has an machine not a human as its primary character, only highlighting the very oblivious nature of the human species or the adult version of the environmental/cultural genocide theme of Dances with Wolves (1990). Other strong live action movie equivalents might be The Secret of Roan Inish (1995), Finding Nemo (2003), or Whale Rider (2002).

While the storyline is nothing original, the richness of the animation really enhances the storyline and together create an entertaining and rich movie going experience but that doesn’t quit reach the intensity and depth of some of the other excellent relational or environmentally sensitive movies released so far.