Epic

Well, it's summer season film time, and not only does that mean we have the obligatory number of big-budget films, but also we have a plethora of animated films as well. This year, we kick start the season with "Epic", a tastefully done fairy tale of a tiny world in a forest. But don't worry, we have a ton more animated flicks coming including Pixar's "Monster's University", "Despicable Me 2", "Turbo", and "The Smurfs 2", so whip out the popcorn, you'll be in cartoon heaven.

"Epic" tells the story of an ongoing battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When a teenage girl, M.K. (Amanda Seyfried) finds herself magically transported and magically reduced into this tiny secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team consisting of fun and whimsical characters including Ronin, Nod, Mub, and Grub (Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Aziz Ansari, and Chris O'Dowd) respectively, in order to save their world...and ours.

Others to round out the cast are Christoph Waltz as Mandrake, the evil leader, Steven Tyler as Nim Galuu, seer of the Leaf People, Beyonce Knowles as Queen Tara, Jason Sudeikis as Bomba, M.K.'s Dad who is a scientist, Pitbull as Bufo, Blake Anderson as Dagda, and Judah Friedlander as Larry, taxi cab driver.

This was effectively well paced by director, Chris Wedge ("Ice Age", '02, "Robots" '05). He doesn't have a ton of feature films under his belt, but his quality is simply spot on. It was written by James V. Hart, William Joyce, Daniel Shere, Tom J. Astle, and Matt Ember based on a story by Joyce, Hart, and Wedge, which is based on the book, "The Leaf Men", and "The Brave Good Bugs" by Joyce. Usually a film that has been written by as many as five writers is convoluted and disjointed--too many hands in the pot syndrome, but this was amazingly well executed. Could be that one of the writers was the novelist--not sure, but considering this is yet another premise pitting good against evil, the fairy tale itself took you into a world where one could escape and meet and encounter some very interesting characters.

20th Century Fox's, Blue Sky Productions, the animation company which created this, designed a beautiful and whimsical world that captivated its audience. You know who these guys are-- the same guys that brought you "Ice Age", and "Rio", which are working on "Rio 2" for a next year release. This is presented in 3D, and I'm not sure if it just is enhanced by the 3D process, or that the process has incredibly improved, but the 3D was killer in this.

You gotta see this on the large screen and in 3D to fully experience this beautiful world where good clashes with evil, because once you do, you will leave with a huge grin on your face.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                        Rated: PG                          103mins.