Review Summary: Sweet, simple, heartwarming, familiar, and an overall mostly winning effort.
It's hard being an original animated feature these days. In the midst of sequel after sequel, and remake after remake, there seems to be not much room for original storytelling in Tinseltown. However, its' still nice to see original stories come to life on the big screen. And I'm glad that DreamWorks Animation is still in the business of making great stories.
Beyond being a rare original title, this movie is distinctive for another reason. It has the first ever female solo director for an animated title. Jill Coulton spent nearly a decade developing this at DreamWorks, trying to make sure it was just right. It went from the main studio to the Chinese animation studio Pearl (which was formerly known as Oriental DreamWorks, this studio worked on majority of the Kung Fu Panda 3 production).
And even though the finished product itself has some familiar and unoriginal elements, it still comes together quite nicely. Part of that is due to Coulton's terrific balance of kid-focused humor and a subtly mature story that naturally weaves itself in without feeling forced or shoe-horned in. While Everest is certainly adorable (with a memorable laugh), this is Yi's story. And its' a heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story that gets the right amount of attention and the right amount of development without feeling too sophisticated or upsetting for younger moviegoers. Meanwhile, the script successfully pulls off a twist as far as the villain of the story goes. It was a reveal I personally didn't see coming.
Overall voice performances are very solid, with Chloe Bennett (Agents of SHIELD) proving to be a capable lead as Yi. 14-year old Albert Tsai gives innocence and laughs to young boy Peng, and Eddie Izzard and Sarah Paulson giving very good supporting performances. None of these performances are blow-the-roof off amazing, but they do the job at least very well and up to what you would expect.
The animation, meanwhile, is absolutely gorgeous. With great visual effects and some picturesque backgrounds, you can tell the animators really took their time to portray an authentic environment for the characters. The characters don't look as realistic, but their cartoony feel meld well with the surrounding area. There's plenty of impressive visual effects too, with a purple, magical weeping willow being the highlight (along with the giant blueberries of course).
The film breezes by at a solid pace with nothing that feels overly long or out-of-place. Rupert-Gregson Williams' music score does a nice job capturing Asian culture as well as nailing Yi's violinist passions as well. The idea of combining some of the music with the Coldplay hit "Fix You" might be one of the most bizarre and most interesting musical choices of the year, and yet it results in one of the films' best moments. There's also some really neat creative choices, from Everest's magical powers to some "whooping" snakes leading to a handful of genuinely-earned laughs.
On the downside, however, the film is weighed down a bit by some juvenile dialogue here and there. There's a handful of scenes where some dialogue could have been re-written to not sound like it was skewing very young (then again, it is a kids' movie). However, there is a quiet scene mid-way through that is written with enough mindfulness of its audience as well as enough maturity to make it work. The film also uses one plot device (Everest's unexplained magic) a little too much. Maybe one or two less uses would have made it a bit less repetitive and predictable.
Finally, the film's pivotal cloud flight scene (perhaps a bit too similar to How to Train Your Dragon) is given an odd musical choice; pop music. Maybe the choice was to differentiate it from its' brethren, but I really think an orchestral piece would have been so much more effective. Or maybe I'm just being nitpicky.
Ultimately though, Abominable is still better than the trailers suggested it would be. Yes, it tackles ideas and themes that have been explored before in animation and kids' movies. But, its' all executed in a way that is interesting, very sweet, and well-done. And yes, its' not DreamWorks Animation's finest effort. But it shows the studio still has what it takes to deliver genuinely good movies.
My Score: 8.1/10
Content Concerns for Family Viewing....
Rating: PG (for "some action and mild rude humor")
Recommended age range: 5 or 6 and up
Language: None except mild name-calling.
Adult Content: One character is seen with multiple girls. Someone asks, "how many girlfriends do you have?" Jeng imitates making out/kissing with his arms. The suggestive song "whoop! there it is!" makes a quick passerby appearance.
Violence: Mostly of the slapstick variety. Everest causes a bit of damage everywhere he goes. Others shoot him with tranquilizer guns. Someone threatens to do away with the kids and Everest, and pushes Yi off a cliff. A few people fall from various heights. A car falls off a mountain cliff. Giant blueberries smack characters in the face. Some perilous chases. Peng puts his head in Everest's mouth to make others around him wonder if Everest is eating him.
Drugs/Alcohol: Beyond tranquilizer guns, nothing.
Other: Kids and teenagers lie to their parents for various reasons, most notably to leave home to try and get Everest home. Yi tries to shut her family out. A few minor bathroom giggles include two giant blueberries down one kid's pants, someone drinking out of a lake that a Yak just relieved himself in, and a character saying unknowingly "who else likes my buns?" (she's alluding to her pork buns, but it could be taken as a double-entendre).
