Who knew that bugs, humans and fighting for territory amongst the plants, dirt and forest could be so monumental? This animated movie has all the makings of a soap opera: love, a journey; death; betrayal and a hero saving the day. Epic features the voice talents of Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Pitbull, Jason Sudekis, Steven Tyler and Beyonce Knowles.
Mary Katherine is a 17 year old young lady who lives with her father, who is a bit if an eccentric fellow. Her father is a scientist, and he has been looking for a race of creatures that exist only in the forest that is nearby their house. These creatures are actually tiny little soldiers and they protect the forest from an evil force called the Boggans. The Boggans are lead by Mandrake (who is voiced by Christoph Waltz). A young warrior, Nod, quits the force of soldiers, much to the chagrin of their leader, Ronin (voiced by Colin Farrell).
Queen Tara, who rules the forest, has to choose an heir to her throne and ventures out to select a pod. She is guarded by her crew: a snail named Grub and a very chill grub named Mub. The timing could not be worse: no sooner has she chosen the pod, she gets attacked by the evil Boggans. They are overwhelmed by the larger force and outnumbered. Unfortunately, she is wounded quite badly. Ronin comes in to more or less ‘save the day’ and they both fly off on his hummingbird. A second attack by Mandrake and his son mortally wound Queen Tara and she falls from the hummingbird.
MK decided to leave her home. The family dog, Ozzy, (who has three legs), has other plans and runs into the forest. MK chases him, hoping to catch him. Instead, she comes across the tiny Queen falling to the ground and Tara gives her the pod. Tara also shrinks MK from human size to teeny tiny size. The mission: Tara tells MK to make haste and bring the pod to a glow worm named Nim Galuu. Queen Tara dies and MK joins forces with Ronin, Mub and Grub. Of course, no mission can be complete without having some young warrior trying to prove his worth and his older, wider mentor intervening to save the day! Nod, it seems, entered a race against other creatures in the forest. Ronin was not impressed – especially when he finds out that the mean spirited bullfrog Buffo is also involved in the race, and Nod went back on his word to lose this race. Before any serious damage could take place, Ronin interferes, gets Nod the heck out of there and off they go.
They find the mysterious Nim G, who brings them to a library and MK finds Queen Tara’s message before she got shrunk and a message that will return her to normal size. Ronin exits and Nod takes MK on a deer ride, and of course, feelings of love and romance ensue. Mandrake kidnaps Mub and Grub, throws them in prison and takes the pod (which he got that information, from Bufo (or ‘buffoon’ is a more fitting name), who was a coward and told Mandrake the location of the pod. He wish is to have the pod bloom during the darkness, which will destroy the forest. Before all is lost, MK, Ronin and Nod disguise themselves in order to get into enemy territory and borrow some disguises from Professor Bomba’s house. Those crafty Leafman, it seems, have been leading Bomba off their trail on purpose!
Deep in Boggan territory, Ronin sets out to distract the Boggans while Nod and MK rescue the pod and those loveable lumps, Mub and Grub. Mandrake finds they have escaped and summons a horde of Boggans on them and this means one thing: Ronin gives his life up in order that the others can escape. Mandrake’s bats try to block out the moon beams, to block the pod from blooming in the moonlight. The Leafmen start fighting the Boggans and in the midst of the chaos, MK goes to get her dad for help. Professor Bomba comes to and thinks that he has been going crazy all of these years and begins to close down all his cameras and equipment when he sees a red push pin dart on his map, which had been placed there while MK and her buddies were in the house, retrieving the disguises. Bomba follows MK and uses modern day technology – an I-Pod –to create bat noises, which cause some confusion but allow the bats to follow Bomba. Mub and Nim G attempt to stop Mandrake from reaching the pod but are unsuccessful, when, Ronin appears, covered in bruises and cuts but hey, he is alive! Just when it looks as though Mandrake is going to be the victor, Nod comes to the rescue and he and Ronin beat Mandrake as a team, which is something that Nod needed to realize all along. The moonlight takes over the little pod and it begins to bloom, which signals the defeat of the Boggans.
The heir to the throne ends up being the child who helped Queen Tara in the earlier part of the movie. Grub gets a promotion and becomes a Leafman, Nod and Ronin patch up their differences, and Nod kisses MK before she turns back to her normal size. MK becomes her father’s assistant and the two of them maintain contact with their small allies and friends, continuing to study the world around them.
All in all, I enjoyed this movie and if you like the good old fashioned theme of good beating evil forces, I recommend it. Besides, I like anything with Colin Farrell, but that’s another story, for another time.
