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| photo courtesy of averagesocialite.com |
Smallfoot,
the animated kid’s movie in which Channing Tatum plays a friendly yeti, hit
theaters this weekend. The movie centers around a community of yetis who live
on a frosty mountain peak, hidden from the humans below. Migo (Tatum) and his
friends (Zendaya, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Ely Henry) are freethinkers,
but the rest of the yetis, led by the Stonekeeper (Common) believe only what
they can find inscribed on their sacred stones. So when Migo strikes up a
friendship with a human being (James Corden)—whose existence the stones deny—he
finds himself banished from his home.
Smallfoot
meets all the basic demands of a peppy animated flick that’ll keep the kiddie crowd
engaged. 1) It’s energetic, thanks largely to Channing’s and Corden’s voice
performances. 2) It’s a musical, contrary to what its marketing might lead you
to believe. 3) It has loveable, furry creatures. (Granted, it’s a little
off-putting that they don’t have noses, but you forget that after a while.) 4)
It packs in plenty of laughs, including a dash of old-fashioned slapstick, an
occasional knowing wink, and, thankfully, very little potty humor. And 5) It’s
got a tidy and teachable (if a bit heavy-handed) moral.
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| photo courtesy of observer.com |
On the other hand, Smallfoot doesn’t do much to make itself
stand out. Musically, the movie misses the mark; only a couple songs (“Percy’s
Pressure,” “Let It Lie”) are remotely memorable. It does better with character,
but even there, many of the yetis feel too generic to make much of an
impression. Most crucially, Migo (in theory the protagonist yeti) is more or
less interchangeable with a dozen other animated heroes. The human Percy
(Corden’s character) gets the more interesting character arc by far, anchoring
the entire third act of the movie, but a better script would give Migo enough
substance to let him carry the weight of the narrative.
FINAL VERDICT: Smallfoot looks like many of the other
recent animated features, but if you’re looking for some lighthearted escapism,
it should do the trick.
TRAILER
Watch the trailer here.
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| photo courtesy of regmovies.com |
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