Movie review of Epic

EPIC

Epic the movie:

Epic the movie is children's movie that is animated. The main setting of the movie Epic is a forest. In the movie Epic, a young teenaged girl named Mary Katherine who prefers to be called MK travels a distance to see her father Larry after her mother’s death. Much forest area surrounds the home of MK's father.

MK's father's home is just a short walk from the forest.

• The character of MK’s father in Epic asks her how she has been doing and she subsequently explains that she has been doing okay and that she has been working through the “five stages of grief”.
• MK is surprised to see that the family dog is still alive and now running around fast on just three legs.

MK’s father shows off his life's work (trying to prove that very little people perhaps the size of mosquitos live in the forest) but MK just thinks that he is crazy. MK thinks that her father’s delusions contributed to ruining his marriage to her mother.

Well, this movie Epic goes on to demonstrate that MK’s father was right all along and by the end of the movie Epic, the character of MK’s father is remorseful that he did not get to prove everything to her mother.

In Epic the movie, the little people that are shown in the forest include Leaf men who live by the motto, “One tree, many leaves”. They believe that no one in the forest community is ever alone and they must work together and help each other.

A character named Ronin is one of the leaders among the Leaf men and he is especially called to help to protect a character named Tara, the queen, the “life of the forest”. Tara is played by voice actor Beyonce.

It is often implied that Ronin and Tara had a romance at one time and they are at times flirtatious with each other. At one point in the movie, Ronin tells Tara, “I’m not ticklish.” Tara says, “You used to be.”

Tara is able to move many things in the forest such as branches with the strength of her mind. At the time that Ronin declares that he is not ticklish, he has a vine wrapped around him, the end of which is tickling his ear and getting the vine wrapped around him is Tara’s doing.

In Epic the movie, the character Tara has many admirers and she is influential to those who look up to her. One little girl calls Tara her “hero”. In one moment of peril, Tara is very skilled at running away and creating obstacles for the attackers with the things that she moves telepathically. The little girl also runs and does some impressive things. Tara says, “You’re stealing my moves, kid.”

• In the forest, there is said to be a “balance”.
• There is life, beauty and greenery.
• There is also death, desolation and decay.
• The antagonists that are responsible for the negative desolation, decay and death of the trees for example are enemies to the Leaf men, Tara the queen, and others who are trying to thrive in the forest.
• These enemies are getting very frustrated because every time they destroy something, something else lives, grows and flourishes through the power that Tara the queen has to restore the balance.

The enemies, spearheaded by a ghoulish looking gray skinned father and son team of characters are getting very frustrated that their work to create destruction is continuously thwarted. They develop a plan to cut the opposing power at the source by assassinating Tara the queen.

Generally, the Leaf men including Ronin work tenuously to protect, guard and defend Tara the queen but at times, she is on her own, trying to run to safety.

The enemies launch a big attack shortly after Tara the queen chooses a pod. (She chooses the pod with the help and suggestions of a slug and a snail who work to keep the pods moist.) She ends up taking the slug and snail’s opinions under consideration but when they suggest that she select a large pod, she still ends up making her own choice and selecting a smaller one instead.

The importance of the pod is connected to Tara the queen’s choosing an heir to transfer her power to. In the movie Epic, after Tara the queen selects the pod of her choice, it is not long before she has to run with the pod in her arms, run as fast as she can from the enemies that are in hot pursuit.

• These villains want to kill Tara and steal the selected pod away.
• If the pod blooms in darkness instead of the light of the moon, then the darkness, desolation, death and decay will rule in the forest.
• All of the the beautiful trees, grass and small beings will die.

Sadly, Tara the queen does die and she blows life and power into the pod that she holds before she does. In her dying moments, Tara the queen is discovered by guess who? MK! This is MK’s introduction to realizing that her father is right about the “little people in the forest”. Back at her father’s house, MK realizes that in her opinion, her father is even more kooky than she bargained for and she decides to leave his home while he is out. She leaves a handwritten note on his computer screen and heads out the front door to use her cell phone and call the same taxi driver that drops her off at her father’s house in the opening scene of the Epic movie. The taxi driver criticizes the house suggesting that it has termites and tells MK to call him again if she needs a quick getaway. Just as she is about to call him and take him up on that offer of a quick getaway, MK discovers that her cell phone has no reception (“no bars”).

• Additionally, the three legged family pet dog that’s been around since MK was a little girl gets out of the house and goes running away very quickly.
• An exasperated MK decides to run after the dog, hoping to catch up with him as he runs toward the forest. She can’t believe how fast the dog can run on three legs.

While in the forest, MK shrinks to the size of the little people! MK encounters the dying Tara the queen on the ground. Nervous and worried, MK tells Tara that Tara needs a doctor.

1. Tara seems to make it clear that there is no time for trying to find a doctor because she is dying and she needs MK to pay attention to her last words.
2. Tara gives the pod to MK and MK does not fully understand the importance of the pod.
3. Tara reassures MK that she will have a purpose during her time in the forest.

Ronin and the other Leaf men learn of the death of Tara the queen. Ronin takes the news especially hard and all of the other Leaf men kneel and bow momentarily to pay their respects. Ronin meets MK and asks her what Tara told her.

• When MK reveals that Tara told her that the pod has to be taken to a particular location, the team of Leaf men including Ronin and MK waste no time in beginning the adventure of this journey. They ride on birds, for example!
• MK is initially shocked that she has shrunk and is eager to get back to her own world and her own size.
• She is told that maybe she will get some answers in the scrolls at the same location where they are taking to pod to.

The relentless villains in the movie Epic experience loss also as the son in the father/son duo meets his demise. Now that Tara the queen has died, the villains still want to get the pod. Will they get it?

Eventually, after much adventure and peril, the good characters in the movie Epic who advocate for the life and flourishing in the forest do triumph over the evil, villainous characters that want death and destruction. The little girl that was “stealing [Tara the queen’s] moves” and had shown so much admiration toward Tara the queen is selected as the new queen!

MK does eventually get back to her normal human size and reunites with her father but before she does, she has quite an adventure with the Leaf men and other little people in the forest.