Early Man

Among the few studios known for stop-motion family films, arguably the best of them is Aardman Animations, one of the only studios to use the purest form of claymation instead of fusing it with computers. They made their debut with the Wallace and Gromit and their following works have created a solid fanbase since then. What has worked for them is their incredible talent with silent visuals gags, memorable weird characters, a silly premise that yields surprising creative results, and an overall delightful experience. With a diverse but limited filmography, their effort put into their projects is very apparent and can be felt even in the simplest of movies. This brings us to Early Man, their latest entry, and the marketing didn't necessarily sell it well. It received fairly positive reviews but I had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be up to that Aardman quality. I went into the auditorium ready to give it a chance while supporting the studios films and left it rather underwhelmed.

Plot: The story follows a tribe of primitive Stone Age valley dwellers who face off against Bronze Age people in a football (soccer) game to defend their home. If you have seen any formulaic sports flick, all of those cliches are covered here. Normally that wouldn't be too much of an issue if the strengths of the aforementioned studio were capable of making up for it. However, the charm, while still being present, is reduced since it doesn't land as well as it could have. The fun weirdness is expressed mostly with bird creatures, which seems to be an quirky pattern from the past films.

The pacing of this familiar story structure is smooth and fast as it moves through each cliched plot point. Since the game is dealing with soccer, a good number of sports jokes are spread throughout and determining if they land depends on your familiarity (which I wasn't since I'm not a sports person). There's one weird "twist" revealed in the third act that's just shoehorned in an attempt to force some kind of uniting resolution that feels off putting in comparison to the silly nature of the entire film. Despite the issues with the story, the silly nature does shine through at moments with certain people, which can liven up the experience.

Characters: The people to focus on are Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston). Dug is a young Stone Age caveman who rallies his fellow valley dwellers to learn teamwork in order to win the soccer game. Eddie does a solid job in being hard to distinguish in creating role instead of being himself (despite how unmemorable Dug is). Lord Nooth is the pompous leader of Bronze Age City whose not afraid to cheat to get his way. Tom gives a good performance as he manages to pull of an exaggerated French accent that can lend itself to some comic relief (it almost even felt like someone from Monty Python).

Overall Consensus: Early Man shares some of Aardman Animations charm, talent for visual gags, and good animation but is overshadowed is forgettable characters, bland predictable story, and less than effective humor. ⭑⭑⭑💻 Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of Aardman Animations and want to keep up with their latest projects. You like stop-motion in pure claymation form. You don't like animated family movies. You like any of the aforementioned actors. You are a soccer fan and want to see those jokes/references. You enjoy sports flicks, despite their predictable structure.

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't interested in stop-motion family films. You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You dislike formulaic sports movies. You aren't into the aforementioned studios style.