Checked out the new Dreamworks animated film Abominable. This is the third in a weird recent trend of human-like cryptid movies that also includes Missing Link (bigfoot) and Smallfoot (yeti). Not sure why exactly three Sasquatch/yeti animated films were made but I suspect marketing and toys and bobbleheads and pop vinyls might have something to do with it.
So Abominable is set in China and stars a teenage girl who has recently lost her father and has thrown herself into odd jobs in order to get away from her mother and nai nai. One night while hiding out on the roof, she finds a friendly yeti on the run from well-armed goons (he has escaped from a lab). The girl decides to get him back to the Himalayas (with the help of a couple of friends) and there we have our road trip action adventure comedy.
And it’s a pretty decent road trip action adventure comedy. I low-keyed liked the characters and was low-key invested a bit in their emotional journeys. I was really surprised this movie works at all on me. I mean, it’s not like it isn’t completely and totally cribbing from E.T. (among other movies). But it worked. It had a sense of beauty to it… it admires the Chinese countryside and spends time with the beauty of the violin and the stars. Not things I would normally be able to say about your run-of-the-mill Non-Disney, Non-Pixar animated flick.
I’m not sure I’d necessarily recommend anyone run out to see it but if you have a thing for yeti (yeti fans in da house!) or beautifully animated CGI cartoons, this is kind of low-key worth seeing. There’s better movies out there – and better animated movies – but this one is pretty solid too.
Score: 77