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Post by babclayman on Apr 23, 2013 7:21:54 GMT -5
You mean it's that kind of "Tounge In Cheek" Film, like how Muppets was?
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Post by Trey_Vore on Apr 23, 2013 13:43:07 GMT -5
Well AniMat does say every year is entitled to have one animated film which is a pleasant surprise.
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Post by babclayman on May 5, 2013 10:20:03 GMT -5
I just seen some Television Spots of the Film; Epic.
From what I gather in it, Some Humans are Shrunken Down and help these Mystical and Woodland Creatures into Saving the Forest… Sounds similar to the Plot of ‘Ferngully’ doesn’t it? O.o
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Post by Belchic on May 5, 2013 12:04:26 GMT -5
I just seen some Television Spots of the Film; Epic. From what I gather in it, Some Humans are Shrunken Down and help these Mystical and Woodland Creatures into Saving the Forest… Sounds similar to the Plot of ‘Ferngully’ doesn’t it? O.o That's exactly what it is, bab. A rip-off of Ferngully! O.O
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Post by babclayman on May 5, 2013 12:08:48 GMT -5
I never said 'Rip-Off', just that the plot reminded me of Fergully.
Is that an exaggeration, you posted there?
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Post by Belchic on May 5, 2013 12:13:05 GMT -5
I'm not accusing you of calling it a rip-off, bab. I'm saying that it IS a rip-off! I've seen trailers for it myself and it is pretty much the exact same movie, except in Epic, it's CG, and the genders of the lead roles are reversed.
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 6, 2013 14:22:56 GMT -5
It could still be a good movie. It just depends on how it was handled.
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 23, 2013 3:34:38 GMT -5
Well, reviews are coming in for Epic.
And? ...well they look pretty good. As of this writing it has a RT score of 72%.
It might be at least as good as Rio.
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Post by RaceFanX on May 24, 2013 23:54:03 GMT -5
I'm iffy on Epic because of its release date, the studio put it out against both "Fast and Furious 6" and "Hangover III" assuring a box office finish no better than #3. While the target audience is different I don't know what to think.
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Post by Trey_Vore on May 26, 2013 1:01:12 GMT -5
Okay, I just got back from Epic. Right now I will give my honest opinion on Blue Sky's 2013 epic adventure... Epic.
Story
The movie is about a teenage girl named Mary Katherine (call her M.K.) who goes to visit her father who is searching for scientific evidence that there is more to the forest than we may see. At the same time, it's established that there is, as the heroic Leaf Men and the Good Bugs want to preserve nature, and the villainous Bogguns, who stand for decay. The two stories converge and it's up to M.K. and her new allies to keep the forest--as well as nature--alive. I know it sounds a little like Ferngully: the Last Rainforest and does hit some familiar notes, but there aren't any human villains and plot-structure wise it's different. It may be a bit familiar, maybe just a bit scattershot, namely in that there are a few characters who don't contribute much, and one character almost feels like the equivalent of a brick joke, but it works fine.
Animation
The best part of the movie is the animation. It's very fluidly animated, and the textures are all very good. The human characters are animated like flesh-and-blood humans, but they aren't TOO realistic so I was never creeped out by them. The animal characters are all well-animated too, especially on some specific characters which I'll get into.
Characters
I will start with M.K. We don't really know much about her past or what she was doing prior to the film's events and at first skeptical about her father's work but is forced to believe it once it becomes real. She's a serviceable hero. Her father does an okay job as a background character and even some comedy relief. The developed Leaf Men include Nod, a rebellious teenager-like pseudo-love interest who isn't really interested in being a guardian of the Queen as much as he is being independent, and Ronin, the Leaf Men leader who takes his job seriously and I would swear seems to fight and move like a samurai (even his name, "Ronin" very much means a 'samurai with no master'). Then there is Nim, a six-legged glowworm who keeps the forest's recorded through scrolls; he reminds me of a soul man/televised preacher. Then the villain of the movie is Mandrake, the decay overlord who is distraught over his son's death and is seeking revenge on the Leaf Men. I understand the villain obviously has a vendetta of some kind but decay is natural; does it have to be god awful bad? However, the movie is almost stolen by the comedy relief characters named Mub and Grub. Respectively a slug and a snail, their comedy always seems to connect and the animation given really makes them shine. There are some other characters but they are rather tertiary; they don't get enough screentime to get much of an impact.
I will say Epic doesn't quite live up to it's name, but it's not really that bad either. It's more or less proof that Blue Sky is getting the idea of an animated film and while it's not quite as good as a movie like Rio, I will say it is an improvement over the Ice Age sequels. I know I won't be running back to the theatre to see it again, but I enjoyed the movie and feel it worth seeing. They just need to work on the story and really engaging us with the characters. And like RaceFanX says, I don't know if it will have any sequels mainly due to stiff box-office competition from two other major summer sequels, Fast and Furious 6 and The Hangover Part 3.
Story: 6/10 Animation: 8/10 Characters: 7/10
Epic (2013) TreyVore rates it: B
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jun 4, 2013 2:44:22 GMT -5
As of this writing, the very next animated film of 2013 is the Disney-Pixar film Monsters University.
I have had my doubts about this film, but what seems to be pushing it further is the fact I learned the movie is Rated G.
Yeah. A college frat movie with no sex, drugs or bad language. Already sounds like it will be lame.
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Post by Belchic on Jun 4, 2013 9:27:09 GMT -5
I have had my doubts about this film, but what seems to be pushing it further is the fact I learned the movie is Rated G. Yeah. A college frat movie with no sex, drugs or bad language. Already sounds like it will be lame. Wasn't An Extremely Goofy Movie like that? Maybe there was a little bit of smoking in it, but still the same thing, right?
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jun 8, 2013 4:29:58 GMT -5
Well, on his Blip account, AniMat reviewed Epic. Here's his scores for the movie:
The Story: 5/10 The Animation: 10/10 The Characters: 6/10
Epic (2013) - 7/10 Good!
He seemed to think The Croods had better characters, but Epic had a better story and animation.
So far, he has:
Escape From Planet Earth - 3/10 Bad! The Croods - 7/10 Good! Epic - 7/10 Good!
If he doesn't surprise us with a review of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, his next review is going to be Monsters University.
For the record, his first thought on that film was "Doubt."
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Post by Belchic on Jun 8, 2013 12:32:20 GMT -5
I don't think he's going to do Equestrian Girls since he's not a fan of the show, plus it wasn't announced until after the Season 3 finale.
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Post by Trey_Vore on Jun 10, 2013 6:26:50 GMT -5
I know it's a bit early, but reviews for Monsters University are already leaking onto Rotten Tomatoes.
Only 6 reviews are posted, but it's "Fresh", with a total of 67%.
Problem is even one of the good reviews says it's a "solidly average Pixar effort", and it's going to be rough when a movie like The Internship, which came out first, has a lot of similar ideas in such a short timeframe.
I'm probably going to skip this and see Man of Steel instead.
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