There’s a long tradition of stories about little people ranging from the Cottingley garden fairies hoax to Gulliver’s Travels, The Burrowers and Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, and Blue Sky’s Epic (2013) DVD is just as wrapped up in the same enchanting qualities that make them so enduring. While the name doesn’t really match up to the movie all that much, apart from a Little John irony perspective, it definitely has its moments as a fun new animated movie.
The storyline brings two worlds together in a Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Alice in Wonderland sort of way, based on the children’s book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce. As the ongoing battle between the Leafmen and the Boggans rages in the undergrowth of the forest, humanity is oblivious to the little guys, except for Professor Bomba, played by Jason Sudeikis (Eastbound and Down), who’s spent his life trying to prove the existence of the little guys in the woods, much to the detriment of his failed marriage and slightly estranged daughter, Mary Katherine, played by Amanda Seyfried (Les Misérables (2012)).
While young and brash Leafman Nod (Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games), rebels against his would-be mentor and commander of the Leafmen, Ronin (Colin Farrell – Total Recall (2012)), just as the Boggan’s are about to unleash their biggest push for dominion over the forest, Queen Tara (Beyoncé Knowles) and all the creatures she cares for find themselves in a sticky, moldy mess. However, just as the battle starts to rage, a twist of fate and flicker of woodland magic brings Mary Katherine down to Leafman size to be a new hope and uniting force against the tyranny of Boggan lord, Mandrake (Christoph Waltz – SPECTRE).
Beyoncé is much better than expected as the Queen of the Forest and she’s backed up by solid performances from Sudeikis, Hutcherson, Farrell and Seyfried. Christoph Waltz puts in a stand-out bad guy effort as Mandrake, pulling off the nastier qualities of the Baggan boss and inspiring the intensity and weight needed to make the film work.
There’s also the brilliantly unexpected duo of Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd finale) combined with Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation) as queen bud guardians, Mub and Grub. They’ve both got some great lines as the snail and slug protectors and they deliver them with perfect comic timing and their trademark styles. Randomly, the cast also includes Aerosmith rock legend Steven Tyler as a wizened glowworm called Nim Galuu and rapper Pitbull as a mean bullfrog called Bufo.
It’s an enchanting story with some great characters, cool animation and cute concepts, including riding around on humming birds with little saddles on and a three legged, one eyed pug dog called Ozzy (hopefully, inspired by Ozzy Osbourne). If you’re an animated movie fan or you’re looking for something to keep the kids quiet for an hour or so, the Epic DVD is a pretty good shout and definitely one that could be watched a number of times with such an endearing storyline and fun delivery. While the music isn’t always up to the standard of Disney, it’s up there in terms of visuals and storyline.
DVD extras include featurettes on Birds, Bugs and Slugs: Forest Explorer, Rot Rocks and Bugs of Camouflage, as well as the full trailer (which you can see below) to add a couple more cute items to watch.
Epic (2013) DVD review: 4/5
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