Film: Epic
Voice Cast: Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull, Jason
Sudeikis, Steven Tyler and Beyoncé Knowles
Director: Chris Wedge
I’ve always loved animated films that are not afraid to confront death. That is why The Lion King and Bambi make us well up even today.
They force us to face our own fears of abandonment, of loss, of loneliness, of having to grow up quickly. Epic, based on William Joyce’s children’s book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, is a classic tale of valour on one level. There is a quest, a challenge, and a battle between the forces of good and evil. At another level, it explores relationships with far more maturity than the regular animated movie.
To say much about the plot would be to draw the magic out of a story that is led by its characters, and their destinies. It opens into a beautiful forest, where things are not quite what they seem. A crazed scientist, whom we only know as Dad (Jason Sudeikis) has strung trees with cameras, hoping to detect the movements of the denizens of the forest. In another dimension, Ronin (Colin Farrell) is giving his protégé Nod (Josh Hutcherson) a lesson in survival against the evil Boggans, led by Mandrake (Christoph Waltz).
The motto of the Leafmen – ‘Many leaves, one tree’ – becomes the guiding principle for a storyline that brings Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried) in contact with the enigmatic Queen Tara (Beyoncé Knowles), the life of the forest. The dynamics of various relationships — between a flirtatious Tara and stolid Ronin, a playful Nod and uptight Mary Katherine, a rigid Ronin and rebellious Nod, a vulnerable Mary Katherine and unavailable Professor — are explored, even as the story progresses at a healthy pace.
Adult ideals such as duty, sacrifice and solidarity are skilfully woven into a story that looks like a fairy tale, but unfolds unpredictably.
Not all characters have happy endings. The story is about the search for happiness in lives that can be wounded and punctured by fate, the things that offer us solace when we have lost our ever-afters. Though there are times when the mush is laid on a tad too thick, and there are comic gags that seem to be trying too hard (there’s even a mafia boss with gold jewellery), the film is uplifting enough to make one forgive those slips.
Our interest is never allowed to wane, with the twists in the tale engaging rather than gimmicky. The inspired casting of Steven Tyler as Nim Galuu (apparently more a “crazy old uncle” than a “wise old man” of the woods) makes for several amusing lighter moments, even as the heroes don their grease paint. The film ends with no clear resolution, but it seems a bit strange that the characters are unaffected by the turn of events.