Review Summary: Charming and entertaining prehistoric flick is Aardman's best effort since Arthur Christmas.
Clay animation seems like its going extinct, just like hand-drawn animation has. But like Studio Ghibli/Studio Ponoc with the hand-drawn animation, Aardman has been stubborn in keeping with the impressive claymation technique. And yet, they also remain one of the quirkiest and most interesting animation studios in business.
They prove this with Early Man. While the concept and background is certainly far from original (animation studios have all had their try with prehistoric antics), it doesn't lessen the overall movie's quality. The animation is still top-notch for the studio, with some genuinely fantastic segments. The animation of the ending soccer (or football in the studio's native country, the U.K.) game is so well-executed, it's just a testament to the hard work of shooting the characters movements frame by frame. The backgrounds often feel like a true piece of craftsmanship also.
The characters also shine here, with enough depth, development, and spunk to make them memorable. Unlike some animated films, director Nick Park gives his characters real, relatable purposes in the story. All of the main characters are given more-than-adequate screentime, and the side characters are given enough gags to be memorable. Dug's trusty sidekick Hognob (voiced by Park himself) is one of the most memorable sidekicks in recent memory.
The voicework is pretty excellent too. The stand-out of the film is (a vocally unrecognizable) Tom Hiddleston, who plays the villainous Lord Nooth. Unlike his other villainous role (Loki), he really hams it up and chews the scenery, but never quite over-the-top or annoying. Eddie Redmayne pours his heart and soul into Dug, with a likable charm (an obvious line that does remind audiences of Newt Scamander aside lol). Maisie Williams is very good here too as the female lead Goona. Her kind and ambitious spirit is infectious and instantly likable. Finally, Timothy Spall is terrific and grounded as the Chief.
The overall plot is fairly simple and easy to follow for youngsters. (It also never drags, running a just-right 80 minutes without credits.) At the same time, it combines the "prehistoric meets modern" of The Flintstones with an underdog sports story. At times, the first of these two ideas is pretty outright clever. The bird messaging system and their invention of an "instant replay" often creates some genuine laughs. A few light creative touches in the animation (and in Harry Gregson-Williams' score) also help here too.
But through the characters and situations at play, Early Man also carries a strong, beating heart, with perhaps the most endearing story they've put together since their fantastic Arthur Christmas (which was their first computer-animated effort).
There are a few annoying gags here and there (likely placed to make the kids laugh), and I wouldn't rank it among my favorite animated movies of all-time. But, Early Man is still a pretty darn good movie, and better than just about all of the prehistorical animated pics that have come before it.
My Score: 8.5/10
Content Concerns for Family Viewing: Early Man is rated PG for "some mild action and rude humor". As usual for many prehistoric flicks, slapstick violence is prevalent. Animals chase cavemen and squash them cartoonishly. A meteor causes an explosion that kills the last of the dinosaurs. Characters are knocked unconscious. Someone falls into a crack in the earth. Characters are imagined being whipped in a mine (bloodlessly, of course). A rabbit is shown turning over a fire on a kabob (but he escapes). A falling rock avalanche causes some to fall too. More pushing. More punching. More shoving, etc.
A few bathroom gags pop up in the form of a character getting pooped on by a bird, and one character farting briefly. There's also a few shots of cartoonish nudity. One character runs out naked (we see a only slightly-blurred backside, followed by the front seen with a flag covering the unmentionables). A cave painting depicts "many moons", in this case, many cavemen mooning at their opponents...Dug accidentally trips into someone while they are showering, looking up between his legs (we don't see anything). The villain lies and cheats and is as greedy as they come.
