Not quite abominable
Animated yeti film has charms for children, but may irk parents
SMALLFOOT
★★ 1/2outof5
Cast: Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya
Director: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jason Reisig
Duration: 1h36m Any discussion of a film about Yetis must start with a Why. In this case, why make the movie Smallfoot at all?
Did someone at the studio feel there were not enough films about misunderstood monsters, like the recent Hotel Transylvania series, or Monsters, Inc.? Did they want an animated vehicle to carry the chirpy soundtrack, even though it has little bearing on the story?
These are both strong theories, but a close examination of Smallfoot reveals a more insidious plan. This kids’ film is nothing short of a takedown of organized religion.
Consider: The yeti community lives on a secluded, mistshrouded mountaintop that its members consider to be the entire universe. They practice arcane but useless rituals — protagonist Migo (voiced by Channing Tatum) is the son of the gong-ringer, whose job is to make the sun come up every day. He’s never dared to sleep in and see what happens.
Their leader (voiced by Common) is the Stonekeeper, whose tablets of commandments have an answer for everything. It even includes one that declares that ignorance is bliss.
Migo is thrown out of the village for purporting to have seen a “smallfoot” (i.e. a human), which one of the stones says cannot be. The consequence if he can prove his discovery is that one of the stones must be wrong — and that means none of them can be taken on faith. He’s yeti Copernicus!
It’s a heady plot for a film that is otherwise full of cartoonish humour — a lot of falling from great heights, and much misunderstanding between the humans and the Yetis. Neither group trusts the other and is quick to attack in self-defence: Picture municipal and provincial politicians to get a sense of the level of comic confusion.
Like a reverse Moses, Migo descends from the mountain and returns with a smallfoot by the name of Percy (James Corden), who by an unlikely coincidence is planning to fake a yeti sighting to boost the ratings of his nature show. Meeting the real thing, once he figures out that Migo doesn’t want to eat him, is thus a great career boost.
If you’re OK with the message “question authority in all its forms,” and what effect that might have the next time you serve something healthy for dinner, then you can set your kids loose on this brightly coloured bauble, with its inspirational song-and-dance break every 10 minutes, and its celebrity voices that include Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, LeBron James and singer/actor Zendaya, who sings and acts as Meechee, leader of the smallfoot believers society and also daughter of the chief.
There’s less for parents to enjoy, although the animation is head and shoulders above most Bigfoot footage I’ve seen. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the results abominable, but I’ll admit to checking my watch during the film’s 96 minutes, wondering: Are we there, yeti?