The Other Side of Animation 167: Abominable Review

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

As a fan of animation, DreamWorks Animation is in a creative and frustrating situation, and that has always been the case since it was founded. It is an animation studio founded upon bitter petty anger and a lineup of films trying to beat out Disney and Pixar at every turn for no other reason than to try and make edgier versions of the former studio’s films. Sure, at around the latter half of the 2000s, they started to course-correct, and now they have a solid lineup of really good movies. Shrek 2, Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, the Kung Fu Panda Trilogy, Captain Underpants, and the How to Train Your Dragon films are all some of the best films that have come out of this studio. Though they have slightly course-corrected, the stench of the bitter anger towards Disney still looms, and you can argue that DreamWorks doesn’t have an identity.

Out of all the studios making feature animation in the US, what makes them different than Illumination, Sony Pictures Animation, and Blue Sky Studios? I mean, you can tell a difference, but that’s only if you know what kind of films each studio makes. To me, DreamWorks was always at their best when they focused on story and character with a dash of comedy thrown in when needed. They do well with smaller character moments, and that’s no different here with their newest film, Abominable. Directed by Jill Culton and co-directed by Todd Wilderman, Abominable is DreamWorks’ first major co-production collaborative effort with a Chinese studio, Pearl Studio. I mean, they used to own this studio until a Chinese company, CMC, bought the stakes and rights to Pearl Studio from Universal. So, with this being the third yeti movie in two years, how is it? Well, let’s find out the mysteries of this zoological wonder.

Our story revolves around a teen girl named Yi, voiced by Chloe Bennet. She’s a tough working girl who is still getting over the loss of her father. While taking multiple small jobs, she also enjoys hanging out on the rooftop of her building and playing the violin. One evening, she finds something on top of her home building, and it turns out to be an actual yeti! She then makes it her goal to return the yeti, who she has named Everest, back to his home with the help of her friends Jin, voiced by Tenzing Norgay, and Peng, voiced by Albert Tsai. This is all the while, avoiding a rich billionaire named Burnish, voiced by Eddie Izzard and a zoologist named Zara, voiced by Sarah Paulson.

So, with a film like this, where most critics seem to think it’s just okay, I try to look at what Abominable does well in terms of a DreamWorks film. The biggest problem most DreamWorks films suffer from is that the overall story is not the best part. That’s pretty much the same here with Abominable, but I found myself being more charmed by the smaller character interactions, like Peng and Everest, Everest with Jin, Peng, and Yi, and Burnish, the stereotypical billionaire has little sequences that give him more depth. The film’s theme is obviously about living life and family, and while that’s nothing new, the interactions during the overall story make the trip worthwhile. It also helps that the other human teen/kid characters end up being likable in their own way. Li is probably the most annoying out of the three, but once he realizes what he has to do with his coming-of-age story arc, he has some of the better jokes in the entire film. While there is a slightly comedic edge to the story, it’s also a much quieter film. Sure, it has its family-friendly antics, and the goons do provide a lot of comedic relief, it’s a film that isn’t afraid to simply stop for a moment and let the characters talk and breathe.

Animation-wise, the visuals are downright gorgeous. Seriously, while it might not be on the level of Disney and Pixar’s photo-realistic textures, the scenes and locations the gang travel to are beautiful. They remind me of those old travel ads or a Planet Earth-style documentary. Despite having a supposed budget of $75 mil, Abominable is one of the most visually beautiful films of 2019. The lush landscapes, stunning color palette, and wonderful VFX effects are very well-executed.

I might be one of the more supportive fans of this film, but I do have some issues with it. It’s a simple film, and that’s not a bad thing, but there could have been a lot more meat on the bones of the story and themes. It’s a film that could have easily been 30 minutes longer to expand on some of the themes and scenes. While the film has some pretty good comedy, the jokes that they show off in the trailer are still the worst in the film. They don’t pop up like that all of the time, but I would say the first third has the worst jokes of the entire film. Thankfully, they don’t do that Taylor Swift scene that you see in the trailer that was shown in theaters before the main trailer, but there could have been better comedic moments that could replace the blueberry butt joke.

While it might not hit the emotional points of How to Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda, I would consider Abominable to be one of the better films in the DreamWorks catalog. I think people will come back to it more than once depending on how everyone feels about Trolls World Tour and The Croods 2 coming out next year. Still, despite having a shaky experience with inconsistent moments of quality, I’m happy DreamWorks is still around, and from time to time, they will come back to making more character-driven experiences. Plus, this is a good sign for Pearl Studios, as they will be releasing Glen Keane’s newest film, Over the Moon, next year for Netflix. To me, this shows that this is another example of China’s current commitment to high-quality animation. Now then, let’s snap our fingers and next time, we will check out The Addam’s Family Movie.

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Rating: Go See It!

Animation Tidbits: Annecy Part 2

(Originally written: May 29th: 2019. Sorry for posting this late!)

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Alrighty, for the final part of this look at Annecy 2019, I decided to combine a bunch of films from different categories. This is because the various categories don’t have enough to warrant talking about in individual articles. At least, that is my opinion on the other categories. The one major change they made was a new category called Contrechamp, a category with animated features that are in competition, but have visuals that challenge the medium of animation. Otherwise, the films on the list will be from the screening events and In Production section of the festival. Let’s get started!

Children of the Sea (Contrechamp)

Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, the story focuses on a girl named Ruka, who saw a ghost in her dad’s aquarium when she was little. She becomes attracted to the aquarium and the appearance of two mysterious boys named Umi and Sora, all the while the adults who work there figure out the mass disappearance of the earth’s fish. In a lot of ways, it’s almost unfair that this film is the perfect representation for the Contrechamp section of the festival. It’s almost unfair how downright jaw-dropping-off-your-face beautiful the film is. Studio 4C has done a lot of great work, but this easily looks like it will be their best. Plus, with GKids now attached to bringing it over to the states this year, I have major hopes it’s going to be at Animation is Film 2019! If that wasn’t enough to get you hyped, Joe Hisaishi, the composer behind many of the Studio Ghibli classics, is composing the music for this film.

Away (Contrechamp)

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, Away is about a young man who’s riding a motorcycle, trapped on a mystical island while trying to avoid a shadowy monster chasing him. This is also a film that looks like it will be taking advantage of the Contrechamp title. Sure, it kind of looks like an indie game that’s trying to be the next artistic achievement in gaming, but that’s sort of the fun of it. Plus, this was directed and animated by someone who is 25 years old. That is wildly ambitious and I give him kudos for that. It looks like a visually creative film that I hope does well.

Underdog (Contrechamp)

Directed by Sung-Yoon Oh and Chun Baek Lee, the story revolves around a blue dog that was once a house pet, but ends up back in the wild. He encounters wild dogs, and tries to help them survive and live freely. Generic title aside, I really like the visual look of this film. It reminds me of the work arounds French animation uses in projects like The Painting. It has a super vibrant color palette, and while the CGI may not be Pixar or Disney level at all, it has its own identity and personality to it. I’m happy to see South Korean animation finally making some break-out titles to show that they can make animated features that aren’t tied down to propaganda, and can be watchable by all. Though seeing some of the marketing blurbs say it was more emotionally gripping than Zootopia? Yeah, we will have to see about that.

Ville Neuve (Contrechamp)

Directed by Felix Dufour Laperriere, Ville Neuve focuses on a man named Joseph, who moves into a house with his friend, and tries to get back with his ex-wife, and this is happening with the 1995 Quebec Referendum happening in the background. I like the minimalist approach with its focus on whites, blacks, and grays. It comes off like a more personal and intimate film, and I can’t wait to see what the reviews say about this one.

Playmobil (Screening)

Now then, let’s jump in with the first film in the “Screening” category. Directed by Lino DiSalvo, the story focuses on a young woman named Marla, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who gets pulled into this Playmobil world with her brother Carlie, played by Gabriel Bateman. They get separated, and it’s up to Marla to team up with Rex Dasher, a secret agent voiced by Daniel Radcliffe and Del, a food truck driver voiced by Jim Gaffigan, to get her brother back and avoid the evil clutches of Emperor Maximus, played by Adam Lambert. Yeah, this film did not get the warmest impression, being negatively compared to the 2014 The LEGO Movie. I can understand why. It comes off as a bit outdated that there needs to be a reason for the Playmobil world to exist, when people would rather just enjoy the world that they make. Still, the film looks silly and aware about itself, and some of the jokes I saw got a chuckle out of me. Hopefully it can be an entertaining flick once it releases later this year.

The Prince’s Voyage (Screening)

Directed by Jean-Francois Languionie and Xavier Pircard, this is a follow-up to a film Jean Francois did a while back called A Monkey’s Tale, which follows the prince from that film, as he washes up on the shore of an island, and encounters an individual named Young Tom and his two parents, who were exiled scientists. The film itself looks great, but that should be no surprise, because it’s the same guy behind The Painting, but I am curious to see how they make this film work, because who remembers A Monkey’s Tale? It has only gotten an English UK release, and no one in America has probably heard of this guy or his films. Still, the CGI looks stylized, and I’m curious to see how this film does in continuing the story with these characters in a travel diary-style form.

Abominable (Screening)

Finally, we are seeing actual trailers and footage for this film. Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman, we follow the exploits of a young Chinese woman named Yi, voiced by Chloe Bennet, as she encounters an actual Yeti on the rooftop of her apartment building. It was previously caught by a scientist named Dr. Zara, voiced by Sarah Paulson, and an evil rich man named Burnish, voiced by Eddie Izzard. It is up to Yi, her friends Peng, voiced by Albert Tsai, and Jin, voiced by Tenzing Norgay Trainor, to get the Yeti back to his home in the mountains. This is an important film, due to this being DreamWorks first Chinese collaboration with Pearl Studio. As per usual with their non-comedy stuff, Abominable looks visually great, and has some endearing moments, but the jokes and references made in the first trailer and in the recent trailer are iffy. Hopefully, this is more of DreamWorks working at a How to Train your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda level, and not Shrek the Third level. Also, what is up with their marketing for this film? Everyone has already seen a trailer for the film for two or so months before the “official” trailer was released last week. What was the point of having two trailers and one of them was already viewable in theaters? Oh well, I hope this is a good movie.

Toy Story 4 (Screening)

Directed by Josh Cooley, we follow our heroes dealing with their new lives and a new encounter with a self-made toy named Forky, voiced by Tony Hale. One day, Forky gets out, and Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, sets out to bring Forky back, but also runs into Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts. Shenanigans then ensue as Woody and the gang try to get Forky back to their new owner Bonnie, and Woody starts to have a crisis of what it means to be a toy. It’s too easy and frankly lazy, to say how this is a “cash grab”, when all films are cash grabs. We didn’t need a 4^th one, but if we needed this one to get back on the train of original films starting with next year’s Onward, then so be it. Plus, I have been hearing good early word of mouth, and plus, who doesn’t want to see Keanu Reeves in his first ever voice role? Even if we might “not need it”, I’m glad to go back if the story is good.

Frozen 2 (Screening)

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, our heroes from the first film, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf are off on another adventure to go beyond the kingdom of Arendelle. Yeah, there isn’t much known about the film right now, so let’s talk about how incredible the teaser trailer was. This film looks jaw-dropping-off-your-face-and-exploding gorgeous. I’m sure a lot of this is just teaser editing, and the film may not be this serious in tone, but wouldn’t that be awesome if it was? I know there is a bit of Frozen burnout, but I liked the first movie, and I’m excited to see how this new one unfolds.

Weathering With You (WIP)

In the Work in Progress section, we have the newest film from Makoto Shinkai. The story revolves around a young boy who moves to Tokyo alone, and almost becomes broke, until he gets a writing job for an odd occult magazine. His life feels like it’s constant misery, as rain and dark clouds follow him everywhere. One day, he encounters a young girl who has a mysterious power to clear the sky of the clouds and rain. While I have been critical of some of Shinkai’s efforts and directorial touches in the past, this one has me very excited. To no surprise that Shinkai has more drop-dead eye-popping visuals, something about the story feels instantly likable, and GKids recently announced that they will be bringing it over! I can’t wait to see this film, and I hope to see it sometime soon.

Promare (Midnight Special)

Finally, for the Midnight Special, we have Promare. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and animated by Studio Trigger, we follow Galo Thymos and his team, the Burning Rescue Fire Department. Their main goal is to take down a group of evil mutants called BURNISH that emits and can control a special fire that is engulfing the planet. This movie looks so over-the-top, silly, nonsensical, it’s super drenched in its anime identity, and this is why I follow foreign/indie animation. This movie looks crazy in the most positive way possible. Sure, if you know anything about Studio Trigger’s previous work like Kill la Kill, Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia, and SSSS Gridman, then you know you are going to get some of the most vibrant Japanese animation around. It looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to also see it soon.

And that wraps up what I think looks to be the most promising at the Annecy International Film Festival. Even with these listed, there are truly more interesting features being shown in their completed form or work-in-progress form. Just go check out the site, and see the multitude of animated projects being shown, and find your favorites.