I wasn't particularly keen on seeing this picture when I first heard about it. For the most part, I have trouble being interested in pictures that can't tell me what they are about in the two minutes or so long trailer that they release. Sometimes there is just something about a film that speaks to me that tells me that I will love it despite not knowing much about the film. Epic was definitely not one of those.
As far as I can tell Epic is a mish mash of Ferngully:The Last Rainforest, Arthur and the Invisibles, and Strange Magic but with more big stars than those other films combined. Another sign of a potential bad movie as far as I am concerned is when one of the major selling points of a film consists of listing all of the big names in the picture as opposed to telling the audience what the film is about.
Since the trailer doesn't tell you, the plot tells of the adventures of a teenage girl M.K. (voiced by Amanda Sayfried) who is moves in with her father, an eccentric scientist who is studying little people (fairies without wings essentially) that live in the forest near his home and M.K.'s involvement with the little people.
When the picture opens a narrator tells of a war between the "good" little people called the Green Men led by Ronin (voiced by Colin Farrell) and their ruler Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce) and the "bad" little people called the Boggans led by their ruler Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz). The Boggans want to putrify the forest just because as far as I can tell. The Green Men and Queen Tara want the forest to thrive and as long as there is a living ruler of the Green Men the forest will thrive.
On the day that M.K. moves in with her father, Queen Tara is supposed to journey to a pond to gather a pod to give her magic and the life of the forest to. Ronin doesn't think it is a good idea as the Boggans have been unusually aggressive in their attacks recently. Queen Tara insists and so they journey to the pond with a parade of attendants and Green Men.
Back at M.K.'s father's house, M.K. has decided to give up on living with her father after an hour or two because she feels that her father is not going to be a good parent due to his inattentiveness on her and his focus on his work. After leaving a note and while she is walking out of the house, the dog gets out and runs into the forest. M.K. follows the dog into the forest.
After Queen Tara gathers the pod, the Boggans attack. Queen Tara is mortally wounded and separated from the Green Men and the rest of her people. M.K. finds her dying in the forest. Queen Tara shrinks M.K. and gives M.K. the pod, charging her with taking the pod to Nim Galuu (voiced by Steven Tyler). Nim Galuu will give further instructions when she gets the pod to him. With the help of Ronin, Ronin's protege Nod (voiced by Josh Hutcherson), a slug named Mub (voiced by Aziz Ansari), and a snail named Magda (voiced by Blake Anderson) M.K. journeys to Nim Galuu then to the Green Men's stronghold to ensure that the pod blooms in the light of the moon.
Along the way, M.K. and Nod grow (so to speak). There are battles both large and small. There is just enough humor to take the edge off of the darkness the story making it much more lighthearted than expected which was very nice. The story had a decent ending but I was confused by the abrupt sort of attraction that M.K. and Nod briefly indulge in since this film could only end one way.
The humor was good for both young and old. I was concerned that Aziz Ansari might end up being annoying more than entertaining but was pleasantly surprised that he was the opposite. My biggest complaint after watching the film is that there were too many drawn out moments where our heroes were on the brink of failure and at the last minute were saved. Drawn out moments where heroes might be defeated but are saved at the last minute are good but only once or twice maybe. It seemed like every few seconds there was another "Oh no! Will our heroes make it?" moment and it got old very quickly.
If you haven't seen this picture I wouldn't say that you are missing anything. It's a good family picture.
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