Smallfoot

The Warner Animation Group (WAG) has been making its impact on the big screen since their surprising hit with the Lego Movie in 2014. Their style of family movies shows a premise where the protagonists stride to accomplish a goal while going through some fast action high jinx. While the typical family cliches and solid physical comedy are certainly in abundance, the way it's delivered in the charming manner is worth paying attention. Even though most have associated them with the Lego Movies, they have displayed potential with their first original film, Storks in 2016. The cartoony nature found it contained was refreshing to laugh at and was disappointed at how under-advertised it was. This brings us here to Smallfoot, the latest animated feature from the studio that isn't Lego related that popped up on my radar. The marketing campaign didn't show much as it only displayed a little interaction between the main characters. It received a positive critical reception but hasn't had any noticeable social media buzz. I entered the auditorium after watching Venom to see if this was worth watching and left it both very satisfied as well as slightly annoyed that this wasn't marketed enough.

Plot: The story follows a group of Yeti who encounter a human, as both believed their respective myths as the other species to be extinct. What makes this interesting is how this nice wholesome family film is tackling on an anti-religion/propaganda kind of message, urging its viewers to question all of the "fake news" they encounter regularly. They lean right into it after the first 10 minutes of light hearted introduction to the myths of society. The deep material dealing with that is better than you would expect as they approach it in a positive restful manner. While most of the story is focused on that, it remembers to also entertain its audiences with some solid physical gags (since one of the leads is a large creature who becomes a sponge for that pain and is funny enough for any age), colorful great animation, and a handful of songs sprinkled in there for exposition dumps. What would potentially hold this back for families are the familiar cliches they would expect and the inclusion of music (the songs are pretty nice and serve with the exposition.

Characters: The main characters to focus on are Migo (Channing Tatum) and Percy (James Corden). Migo is a Yeti who questions his clans beliefs when he discovers a human and seeks to learn more. Channing does a serviceable job as this cheerful lead in his he displays the excitement at exploring what's outside of his own village and if there's any truth to his villages laws. Percy is a documentary wildlife filmmaker who desires the spotlight and runs into Migo. James gives a solid performance as an individual who has lost his ambitions for his career and has been desperate in taking the easy way in life. The dynamic between Migo and Percy is very entertaining and insightful is how they interact with one another as they give something to each other that progresses them towards their own goals. Dishonorable mentions go to The Stonekeeper (Common) and Fleem (Ely Henry) with the former being miscast in the role while the latter was too obnoxious in terms of the annoying character archetype.

Overall Consensus: Smallfoot surprises with its great message, solid physical comedy, quirky jokes, beautiful animation, and great character dynamic but suffers from some predictable cliches and minor annoyances. ⭑⭑⭑3/4🎟* Runtime: PG 1 hour 36 minutes
*=If there are any parents planning to bring their children to this, please try to do it during the day since I know there's a possibility you're going to fall asleep should you choose to do so at night (speaking from experience based on the audience I was with during my viewing)

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You don't mind slapstick humor, a couple of musical songs, or predictable cliches. You are intrigued by anti-religion/propaganda or anti-fake news type of stories. You want to support WAG in their animation efforts outside of the LEGO series.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You are annoyed slapstick humor, a couple of musical songs, and/or predictable cliches. You hate anti-religion/propaganda or anti-fake news type of stories. You aren't a fan of WAG's projects.