Chris Wedge
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Connections, in both directions
It echoes forest-battle tropes from FernGully and Avatar and boasts a visual palette reminiscent of A Bug's Life.
Christoph Waltz plays the villain perfectly and deliciously, reminiscent of Kevin Spacey’s turn as an evil grasshopper in “A Bug’s Life” from 15 years ago.
Taking characters from William Joyce children’s novel about “Leaf Men” and “Brave Good Bugs,” a team of writers has borrowed from “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life,” and even “Spiderwicke Chronicles” for a story about the fairy forces of life in a forest, the Leaf Men (and women) and their allies, in battle with the rotting reptilian bog-dwelling forces of decay.
If you like this, try: “Robots,” “Ferngully,” and “A Bug’s Life” and the books by William Joyce.
Though technology has made massive leaps in the 15 years since A Bug’s Life, this tiny-creature toon can’t muster anything like the Pixar classic’s sense of wonder at seeing the minute made massive.
That could be the implicit message of all the animated pictures predicated on the tiny, from A Bug's Life to The Secret World of Arietty.
Yeah, there's really nothing new here: Epic swoops through caverns for Lord of the Rings-y battles, soars through trees for Avatar-esque high-flying excitement, and generally rips off every tiny-people yarn from The Borrowers to Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.
The cast is likeable enough, the animation is top shelf and I was even willing to forgive the fact that the story of a human shrunk down to discover a magical, miniature, woodland world struggling for survival is blatantly ripped off from another animated family film (1992’s “FernGully: The Last Rainforest”).
…traditionally-animated environmental parable, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest; while the pair share story qualities and character archetypes (on a surface level), the fantasy story imagined by Joyce is a much more subtle – and elegant – allegory about the importance of faith, tolerance and how all forms of life (even those we cannot fully comprehend) are interconnected.
But if you've seen “Lord of the Rings,” “Avatar” or even “Ferngully: The Last Rainforest,” you'll already be way ahead of them.
The first-time directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, who worked on the Ice Age movies and Hotel Transylvania, have crafted some handsome, angular animation and a story that nods to Mission Impossible, The Incredibles and, of course, James Bond.
Blue Sky Studios, the company behind the Ice Age series, seems to have wanted to take their knack for making films about animals (they’re also responsible for Ferdinand and the Rio films) and combine that with their admiration for Pixar’s Incredibles movies.
Produced by the team at Blue Sky — Bruno and Quane previously collaborated on the animation shingle’s “Ice Age” features and its recent “Peanuts” movie — “Spies in Disguise” is rendered in colorful, zippy style.
Compared to their first feature, Ice Age , where the human models were adequate and are now dated, it’s a marginal improvement.
While it’s unlikely to make anyone’s top 10 list for best animated feature, Blue Sky Studios – the gang behind the exceedingly popular Ice Age franchise – Spies in Disguise is a fair-to-middling example of a movie that knows its core demographic and rarely bothers to aim higher than, oh, 4 foot, 4 inches.
The latest release from Blue Sky Studios, the company behind the Ice Age and Rio films, follows the unlikely duo of James Bond-esque super-spy Lance Sterling (Smith) and awkward tech prodigy Walter Beckett (Tom Holland).
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Directed by Victor Fleming
influenced Robots (2005), Epic (2013)
Plot Themes Visuals
Epic is bound to be scolded for its screenplay's rampant rip-offs, which can be traced to The Borrowers, The Wizard of Oz , Fern Gully, The Lord of the Rings, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (charges of Avatar copycatting are sure to abound as well, but since that film was already epically derivative, such criticisms don't seem fair).
Lots of medium-amusing references to sources as varied as The Wizard of Oz and the "Daisy" death scene from 2001 share time with a few genuinely inventive throwaway moments, such as public restroom logos that are an outlet and a plug and an animal litter sign that sees a magnet attracting Fido's droppings.
The story of a bright-eyed small-town robot who sets out to find the mechanical wizard of a gleaming utopian metropolis called Robot City, "Robots" gets its engine from "The Wizard of Oz" (the Tin Man has a cameo), which it reinterprets as a postindustrial, consumer-age parable about remaining true to yourself even if you resemble a 1950s kitchen appliance.
It's Pinocchio crossed with The Wizard of Oz.
Thus the ever-fascinating spectacle of "Robots" as created by the computer wizard Chris Wedge of "Ice Age" fame: a mechanical universe rooted firmly in the pre-computerized engineering of 1939 (when "The Wizard of Oz" came out).
Epic is bound to be scolded for its screenplay's rampant rip-offs, which can be traced to The Borrowers, The Wizard of Oz , Fern Gully, The Lord of the Rings, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (charges of Avatar copycatting are sure to abound as well, but since that film was already epically derivative, such criticisms don't seem fair).
Basically, it's a passable combination of Bambi , The Borrowers and Avatar (which plays in my memory as an animated picture).
It echoes forest-battle tropes from FernGully and Avatar and boasts a visual palette reminiscent of A Bug's Life.
Yeah, there's really nothing new here: Epic swoops through caverns for Lord of the Rings-y battles, soars through trees for Avatar-esque high-flying excitement, and generally rips off every tiny-people yarn from The Borrowers to Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.
There are echoes of FernGully and Avatar in Epic's eco underpinnings and sweeping shots of vibrant green.
There’s a lot of familiar elements in “Epic” – from recent movies like “Avatar” and “The Secret World of Arrietty” to earlier films like “Fern Gully” and “The Borrowers.”
Toy Story (1995)
Directed by John Lasseter
influenced Robots (2005), Ice Age (2002), Epic (2013)
Visuals
While it may not achieve the ‘CGI classic’ status that was earned by movies like Shrek , Toy Story and Monsters Inc ., Fox Animation’s Ice Age is nonetheless a pleasantly diverting and quite amusing family flick.
It is full of hilarious characters, incredibly well voiced, silly situations, and the best computer generated animation done yet, and that includes Shrek, the Toy Story movies, and Monsters, Inc..
The ''Toy Story'' films, ''Shrek,'' ''Monsters, Inc.,'' ''Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,'' and now Ice Age -- each of these movies is a jaw-dropping technical achievement, yet also brimming with funny and sophisticated pop prankishness.
While “Ice Age's” straightforward talking-animal format is too routine to go tusk-to-tusk creatively with recent landmark CG films such as niche leader Pixar's celebrated “Toy Story” and “Monsters, Inc.,” there's enough cool fun here to warm the hearts of animation enthusiasts of all ages.
If your duties include entertaining children under the age of five you�ll be seeing this film whether you like it or not, but for everyone else I offer the following advice: Ice Age is not the next Toy Story, but it�s not another Dinosaur either, so if you set your expectations at a realistic level you�ll enjoy it as much as the knee-high brigade in the front row.
For me the humor was hit-or-miss, too often some jokes that should have worked fell flat and the movie never sucked me in on a level like a “Toy Story” or “Finding Nemo” would.
The class warfare in Robots harks back to Fritz Lang's Metropolis � so do the scenes of proles laboring in a subterranean furnace � but this is a different world, with a different architecture.
It follows in the wake of, and borrows liberally from both of 2001's blockbusters, Shrek and Monsters Inc.
I laughed more at "Ice Age" than at "Shrek" and "Monsters Inc." combined.
There�s an upside to this approach, however � it�s not as inventive as Shrek, and it lacks the depth of the incomparable Toy Story, but it harks back to simpler times, when you could enjoy a well-crafted bedtime story without having to worry about where your next in-joke was coming from.
They're obviously recycling Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, or Shrek's Donkey and Shrek (Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers), or Mike and Sully (Billy Crystal and John Goodman) in Monsters Inc., and so on, only their skins and shapes are different.
While it may not achieve the ‘CGI classic’ status that was earned by movies like Shrek , Toy Story and Monsters Inc ., Fox Animation’s Ice Age is nonetheless a pleasantly diverting and quite amusing family flick.
That, in a nutshell, is the template for last year’s two computer-animated blockbusters, Monsters, Inc. and Shrek; and now it applies also to Chris Wedge’s Ice Age — the first feature-length film from 20th Century Fox acquisition Blue Sky Studios (which was also responsible for Wedge’s Oscar-winning animated short Bunny).
The themes are every bit as brutal as those in "Antz" and even less civilized; each character has suffered a loss or crisis which eventually serves to unite them under a common cause.
Aesthetically, many of the animals are as unappealing as the title insects in 1998's Antz, while the people look downright inhuman.
Epic feels overlong and overly reminiscent of several other animated movies, like The Secret World of Arrietty , Happy Feet , and Antz .
Taking characters from William Joyce children’s novel about “Leaf Men” and “Brave Good Bugs,” a team of writers has borrowed from “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life,” and even “Spiderwicke Chronicles” for a story about the fairy forces of life in a forest, the Leaf Men (and women) and their allies, in battle with the rotting reptilian bog-dwelling forces of decay.
It's funny stuff, but it's totally random, veering from references to famous movies that adults will remember ("Singin' in the Rain") to famous people whom kids will recognize ( Britney Spears).
Credit Wedge and company for a generous supply of creative bits such as Fender doing a "Singin' in The Rain" number and Big Weld playing the biggest game of dominos ever.
Epic feels overlong and overly reminiscent of several other animated movies, like The Secret World of Arrietty , Happy Feet , and Antz .
The film also hews to a premise — tiny people living a clandestine existence under the noses of full-sized humans — that has been similarly employed by “The Secret World of Arrietty,” “Arthur and the Invisibles ” and “ The Borrowers ” over the past several years.
There’s a lot of familiar elements in “Epic” – from recent movies like “Avatar” and “The Secret World of Arrietty” to earlier films like “Fern Gully” and “The Borrowers.”
Basically, it's a passable combination of Bambi , The Borrowers and Avatar (which plays in my memory as an animated picture).
In this movie, he’s a fully grown Siamese cat that acts as Garfield’s low-rent side kick and talks with a voice more annoying than John Leguizamo’s sloth in “Ice Age.”
“Garfield” is being released with a short cartoon featuring Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from “Ice Age,” called “Gone Nutty” that is an entertaining diversion an homage to the little critter’s acorns.
If you go to Garfield: The Movie, you'll also get to see ''Gone Nutty,'' a digitally animated 2002 short from the creators of ''Ice Age.''
Small wonder that most viewers will find considerably more laughs in the brief "Gone Nutty" cartoon (starring the scheming Scrat of "Ice Age" fame) that precedes "Garfield" than they'll get from the feature itself.
The few moments of delight associated with this misbegotten film come in the jubilant opening short subject, a mini-sequel to 2002's animated feature "Ice Age." Scrat, the acorn-crazy, saber-toothed squirrel, amasses a huge hoard of nuts for the long prehistoric winter, but finds it impossible to keep them from rolling away.
That computer-animated, Oscar-nominated short, which features the prehistoric rodent Scrat from "Ice Age," is everything the "Garfield" feature is not.
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022)
Directed by John C. Donkin
influenced by Ice Age (2002)
Characters
Since many in the intended audience or even their teen-age babysitters were not yet born when the first “Ice Age” movie was released in 2002, this sixth in the series (not counting video games, television specials, and short films) begins with a recap in cave-painting style, letting us know how the various characters met and decided, even though some of them were natural predators and prey, they would become a family and protect each other.
The prehistoric quest motif has been covered in animated movies like Dinosaur and The Land Before Time, while the ‘good-natured creatures as surrogate babysitters’ theme seems partially cribbed from 2001’s fantastic Monsters, Inc.
Walt Disney apparently agreed, and decided to "remake" the thing 12 years later when they created 2000's animated dud, Dinosaur.
It's part "Dinosaur" (that Disney movie from the summer of 2000), part "Shrek" (no explanation needed there I hope) and, whenever that bug-eyed prehistoric squirrel's on screen, trying to bury his acorn (if you haven't seen the hysterical coming attractions for this film at least a dozen times you're obviously on the wrong planet), all fun.
Instead, Wedge and company opt to follow a far more conventional blueprint, one that suggests "Ferngully" as crossed with "The Borrowers," "The Spiderwick Chronicles" or any number of other stories about children stumbling upon secret communities of mythical beings.
Of course, this makes sense considering the villains of the movie are the Boggans (which reminds me of “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” another similar-themed film), and the Boggans are all about rot and decay even though they are natural creatures in the forest.
How epic you find "Epic" may depend on how many similar films, like "Ferngully," "Avatar," "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" or "The Spiderwick Chronicles," you've been exposed to.
Take Nod (Josh Hutcherson) for example, a brave but reckless warrior who feels that the rules don’t always apply to him, kind of like Maverick from Top Gun.
And some of the flying sequences - dogfights above and below the tree canopy - play like Top Gun, only the pilots are armed with bows and arrows and sport elf warrior garb.
The slug and his snail sidekick seemed familiar types at first, kinda like the feuding idiots in Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," that is, the inspirations for a couple of 'droids in " Star Wars ."
Williams only offers a rusty version of his brilliant Genie from Disney’s “Aladdin” and it stinks of banality as much as the has-been script.
While his vocal performance isn't quite up to the standard he established in Aladdin, it's only a rung lower.
Even worse is Robin Williams, who was brought to the film to provide some needed improvisational laughs, just like he did years ago in Disney's "Aladdin," yet seems incapable of making a single gag funny here.
Robots also marks a return to voiceover work by Robin Williams, who stole the show in Disney’s Aladdin as Genie.
Thankfully, a lot more air time is devoted to Williams, whose Fender is one part blue genie from "Aladdin," one part Cosmo Kramer and one part coffee grinder -- without seeming like a retread of his earlier comedy.
The visual artistry of the team at Blue Sky (“Ice Age,” the recent “Peanuts” film) gives the movie a delightful palette upon which Ferdinand’s story unfolds.
The latest offering from the company best known for the “Ice Age” franchise is “Ferdinand,” a sweet and straightforward family film adapted from 1936’s “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson.
Blue Sky brings the same animation style as in its Ice Age franchise, with likeable talking animals who have big eyes and exaggerated physicalities.
Blue Sky is 20th Century Fox’s animation studio; its best-known previous films are the Ice Age and Rio series, both of which rely heavily on abominable gender stereotypes most at home in 1950s sitcoms.
Then there’s Blue Sky’s blandly colorful computer animation, which has barely evolved since the premiere of Ice Age 15 years ago; although the studio succeeds at rendering landscapes with painterly composition, everything else is a grab bag of vague, oppressively bright images that say as little as possible.
An English-language film from the Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha, a veteran of the Rio and Ice Age franchises, Ferdinand was adapted from The Story of Ferdinand, the children’s classic by Munro Leaf.