‘Hognobbing’ with hilarious Early Man
BEND it like a caveman. Ha! Sorry, I had to. In the latest Aardman Animations feature, the audience is transported back, way back into time. The dinosaurs are extinct and men who have enough sense to wash their underwear and hang it while they sleep have somehow survived. There are also two women – one who even has a son but no baby daddy in sight (see, men have been trizash since time immemorial, just kidding) – in the tribe but they too are brutish.
So, anyway, this tribe is happily minding its business and relying on hunting rabbits for food. One of the youngest members, Dug (the voice of Eddie Redmayne), is ready for a challenge. How about they start hunting prey that’s much bigger than a hare? Little does he know that he’s going to be met with a force that won’t pick on its own size.
You see, the primitive posse is forced to defend its home, the valley, from a greedy, bronze-mining civilization from colonising them. The only way they can do that? Win a soccer match. Yes, seriously. Like most films aimed at kids whose shoulders have not yet felt the weight of the reality of adulting, there is a strong moral to this stop-motion film: team work makes the dream work.
The emotions of the audience are worked on as we are made to feel sorry for the group that is about to lose the only home they’ve ever known. But there is quite a lot of humour, too. Witty, dry humour. For instance, when Dug suddenly finds himself in another community – one where they have just discovered sliced bread and declared it the best thing ever – someone looks at him and asks: “And where have you been? The Stone Age?” Ha!
The valley team’s soccer kit is red and white, kind of like Man U. So, predictably, there is an (Early) Man United joke in there. That stuff is funny whether you’re a kid or not. But, I must note with concern the insistence of visual jokes involving a man’s nether regions.
For starters, there is the whole underwear thing I mentioned earlier. Once the crocodiles used as pegs have been left back on the line, the chief of the village puts his undies on, only to discover a biting truth: One of the crocodiles was still inside the underwear. Okaaaay.
And then there is the slapstickness of Dug winding up in a bathroom while a goal keeper is in the shower. Dug slides on the slippery tiles and falls, face up, only to stop right in between the goalies legs while he’s in the shower. Kid audience or not – what is that about?
That aside, there are some enjoyable moments. No, I have not figured out why Hognob – a village pet that is a boar that basically does not hold a candle to Pumba – actually howls and barks, but poor Hognob does his best to help save the day. The villain is Lord Nooth (who is voiced by Tom Hiddleston) and is hilarious! He’s also always in the mood for a massage – it’s tense work to drive people out of their caves, you know?
Early Man is just a little less than 90 minutes long, which is great for school holiday attention span problems.