A group of misfits encounter a young Yeti named Everest, and they set off to reunite the magical creature with his family on the mountain of his namesake.
Man,these animated redheads are getting hotter and hotter,aren’t they… Also,reminder that the best “character with dad struggles” (in space) movie is still playing in theaters now in Dolby Cinema and IMAX. Hurry before Joker rolls in a beat. Anywho.
For the longest time,I somehow had this long sense of dread waiting for Abominable. Judging from the trailer,it looked like the worse version of the Animated Roadtrip movie with a little ET,with some bizarre aesthetics and the weirdest character design I’ve seen for a Yeti that is purposely made for merchandise and cuteness factor (as Universal’s braindead Executives wanted). BUT,it had the benefit of having Jill Culton back. Yeah! The Pixar veteran and director of my kind of “Thrill-A-Minute” movie,Open Season,which is kinda criminally underrated to this day.
So I pull the Jurassic World 2 (where I would go to hell if I ever spent a dime to see a dead-on-arrival Franchise Movie or an original idea from Universal,so I go full-on pirate mode),I sit on my bed and finally see it,curious about how it’s going to turn out to be,and,while it’s not terrible (or good in that matter),I was kinda surprised,as well as enjoying myself through some of its runtime.
The best thing I can say is that Culton is trying her best to make sure you care about these characters,their goals and the journey they’re taking,predictability or not. It definitely benefits of having a pretty aesthetic that,although still crowded with problems,manages to still give the movie a unique look. Forgettable? Yeah,sure.
And it has its moments where I’m sure the kids will have a chuckle or two,since it’s sort of hilarious in “several” moments.
And Everest (the Yeti) is amusing. It’s so not the bumbling doof the trailers set it out to be,as he,at least,has some range of emotions besides being just another Minion that Universal needed to shit out to make sure that “It’s cute and marketable”.
Unfortunately,that’s where my goods stop,since the rest is pretty questionable,to say the least. Sure,the Animation is stellar,but the Character Design was kinda bizarre. Like,I’m not joking when I think Yi (played by Agents Of SHIELD’s Chloe Bennet) is basically Collette from Ratatouille,but if someone squashed her head to “Hey,Arnold!” lengths,and the main baddie,although covered with a pretty cute twist,still looks like Charles Muntz with a more cartoonish head.
And the fact that it’s set in China makes it all the more hateful for me,because again,while gorgeous,still feels like Universal trying to make a quick buck from China (which is apparently working,because we’re dumb idiots,right?). Basically that whole 3rd Act from The Meg,only if it lasted 1h30’ because of CASH.
And the best way I can see this could be like Okja,the Bong Joon Ho movie that has similar things in common. I wouldn’t give a flying hell about it,but hey. I’m pretty sure it has its Audience. So yeah. Still “A Universal Animated Movie”,but not as bad as the title sets you out to think.
