Abominável

Dreamworks has been hit or miss when it comes to releasing great animated films over the years. Whether it's Shrek or Kung Fu Panda, there some truly great movies out there, but I once How to Train Your Dragon hit theatres, and each of its consecutively great sequels, I found myself wondering if the studio had peaked with that trilogy. Well, Abominable is their latest upcoming release, and after seeing it at the Toronto International Film Festival, I can confidently say that this is surprisingly one of the very best animated films that they have released, ever.

Everyone knows that the creature known as the Yeti has been known to be a myth, but in Abominable, a young girl (Yi) finds that one actually exists. Having been experimented on in laboratories until escaping and finding its way onto this girl's roof, she befriends him and makes it her mission, along with two other friends, to return him to his home on mount Everest. This particular story has been told hundreds of times, but unlike many movies that choose to copy and paste formulas, Abominable is one that truly cares about the characters and the adventure they go on, which had me falling in love with it as it progressed.

Having written the story for Monster's Inc., worked in the animation department at Pixar on Toy Story and Toy Story 2, eventually directing her first animated feature in Open Season, and now officially writing and directing Abominable, completely bringing her full vision to life, Jill Culton is one with a storied career, albeit not massive. After her outing here, I must admit that I will be following her work for years to come because I believe her vision and how it was showcased, was honestly fantastic. On top of that, Dreamworks has been on a roll with incredible animation, and this movie is nothing shy of fitting that description.

It should go without saying nowadays that most films released by large studios will probably hire the best of the best to create the most beautiful animation, but I just have to commend them here as well. The smooth motions of characters and the detail put into the wide landscape shots are all superb, and these elements are only elevated by a very enjoyable cast of characters, on an adventure that eventually had me in tears. If for nothing else, you'll probably enjoy looking at this movie, but it has much more than that to offer.

In the end, Abominable does suffer from feeling familiar at first glance, but this movie embraces that and creates a journey that feels fresh. The themes throughout this film are meant for all ages, which is why I believe this movie will be a hit with families across the world when it hits theatres. I wasn't exactly jumping out of my seat with excitement when the trailers for this movie first began to circulate, but after experiencing it for myself, I must say that Abominable definitely surprised me in ways that I wasn't expecting. This is a great animated film and it deserves attention when it hits theatres.

There were some beautiful color choices and effects, but the plot overall was super flat. The pacing was all over the place and I really felt very little connection to these characters. The trailers really made it seem like it could've been something great and it just didn't follow through.

Abominable Review:

Abominable is the story of three teenagers as they help a Yeti return to his family while avoiding a wealthy man and a zoologist who want it for their own needs. The trailer for this looked just adorable to me when I saw it. The story to me seemed as if it would be pretty touching and just overall enjoyable. Based on the trailer I was exactly right. I found myself enjoying Abominable. As an overall story I think it worked for most of the duration of the movie. A teenage girl, Yi, finds a Yeti on her roof and with discovering him, she finds out stuff about herself. I loved the incorporation of Yi's violin playing. The animation was actually correct on home one should play. Like in some animated movies they'll have people play instruments similar to how they're played, but not exactly. The vibrato, bow hold, and everything was correct. Later there's a cool thing with the violin where the animation was beautiful. The animation was pretty good in this. The backgrounds were simplified, sort of like a comic, and the characters had more detail, but not a lot. Some parts I think needed some work with the animation. To continue on with the story, it was still enjoyable. Predictable, but that's to be expected. Dreamworks made one of the best animated films of all time, How to Train Your Dragon. Abominable has similarities to that film and I could help but see parallels throughout. Basically what I'm saying is it's not the most original idea. I liked the family aspect of the movie. The three main characters are all related and there's just some family stuff to it that worked for me. One of the three, Peng, had a very annoying voice. It's not his fault but wow did that get annoying after a long time. Overall I think this is just an enjoyable movie. It may be because I saw this a week ago or this is all I got out of the movie, but this is a shorter review. I'd recommend this movie. I could probably see this being nominated in the awards season just because this one had messages throughout and critics did like it.

My Grade: B

This is a heart felt movie. I loved it. Ignore the technical criticism. Ignore the reference to political overtones. All criticism seemed superficial...perhaps they were fake. It is obviously a kids movie, but as an adult I left with good feelings. Very few movies or television shows do that for me. Children in the theater cheered at the end.

Lacked in depth and not the most original story, but scenes are masterfully crafted and absolutely stunning, to the point that you can overlook other minor flaws.