![]() Of course, the flips back to the chase-centric action in the undergrowth prevent things getting too mawkish as in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, the fantasy world feels like it’s climaxing almost from the get-go, with a breathless sense of impetus that’s well-maintained throughout subsequent events. The script walks a fine line between honest-to-god pathos and leavening humour, both sides of the equation ramped up following the awkward reunion through the introduction of a scene-stealing three-legged cyclops pug and some brilliant mise-en-scene (the detail fills in the backstory in as skilful a way as Pixar did with Wall-E’s first half hour). ![]() Thereafter we meet a despotic MK, having just lost her mother and en route to her estranged father’s remote and ramshackle house. The opening sequence is cribbed straight from Avatar, but with its smooth, long takes and visceral sense of peril it’s instantly edge-of-your-seat stuff (death unapologetically acts as a plot catalyst here and again ten minutes later – younger kids may need some explaining). The early stretch strikes a nice balance between surprisingly mature human scenes and the soaring spectacle of the Leaf-people’s lives. Realising her father was right, MK must find a way to get his attention while helping the Leaf-people to defend their kingdom and the woods from the all-consuming decay the Boggins wreak.Įpic immediately shows signs of being a bit more thoughtful than might have been expected its heroine MK is a grieving late teen as opposed to the usual petulant adolescents, while the scattering of ethnicity through the leaf people ties in nicely with the simple and subtle message of connectivity and co-existence at the story's heart. All this changes when she stumbles upon the aftermath of a disaster in the Leaf-people's tiny realm, and finds herself shrunk down to their size and embroiled in their war with the poisonous Boggans. Professor Bomba is still obsessed with documenting the fairy kingdom he believes to lie in the neighbouring woods, and despite his outward affection, MK is clearly still a secondary concern. Sullen teen MK has returned after many years to her father's messy mansion in the middle of the woods after losing her mother, but finds not much has changed. Sprinkling elements of The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Borrowers into the mix, director Chris Wedge has crafted a visually stunning and wonderfully immersive micro-verse that for once justifies the use of the third dimension, while there's enough rousing adventure and genuine heart to the story to keep kids of all ages enraptured for the duration. Something of a return to form for Blue Sky studios after the underwhelming Rio and some increasingly irritating sequels to the excellent Ice Age, this liberal adaptation of William Joyce's 1996 novel The Leaf Men And The Brave Good Bugs appears initially to be a kiddie-fied Avatar but it's actually got enough going on beneath its foliage to distinguish it from James Cameron's own epic.
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