"Smallfoot" is Entertaining, and Features Mass Talent

By: Keaton Marcus

Genre/Kids/Family/Animation

Age Rating/6+

Lemonradar/70% sweet/sour

Introduction

Hi, this is Keaton Marcus and today I will be reviewing Warner Bros’ newest animated feature, Smallfoot. The yetis live in peace, and whatever the so called stones tell them what is real or not, they believe, Migo is a ferociously loyal yeti who wants to become a gong ringer like his father, but when on his first try he misses the target and goes flying out of the village, he sees what is only to be believed as a local legend, a Smallfoot which he claims to the village that he saw; But when the Stonekeeper (the leader of the village) banishishes him for disobeying a stone, Migo must find the Smallfoot and prove to the village that he is indeed, not crazy.

How Was The Cast?

Unlike most Warner Bros featured animated movies, Smallfoot has the benefits of a fantastic cast including Channing Tatum as Migo, Zendaya as Meechee, Danny DeVito as Dorgle and James Corden as Percy which immensely helps the film coherently tell the interesting, clever story, while not being stopped by a couple of the cheesy ideas. First, like I said we saw actor Channing Tatum known for Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street, The Vow, White House Down, Logan Lucky, Jupiter Ascending etc. as Migo. Clearly bringing some of his comedic talents from previous movies, Tatum deftly brings childish nature, funny and occasionally hysterical banter to an actually somewhat developed character, also having some animated experience with The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, The Book of Life etc. which clearly shows in this wonderful kids film and once having seen Channing Tatum act in many movies, you clearly notice a pattern of comedic charisma, determination and integrity acting in his movies, even in his worst film to date, Jupiter Ascending you never feel like he is not giving 120% every single time; Smallfoot clearly shows that Tatum has a promising career with animation in the future. Secondly, we saw actress Zendaya known for The Greatest Showman, Spider-Man: Homecoming etc. as Meechee. Although in just two nationwide releases, Zendaya continues to shine with a brilliant and sometimes beautiful singing voice, comedic strength (previously shown in Homecoming) and even though not the animated type, a pure natural charisma for animated kids flicks and from watching her performance as a main character in Smallfoot just proves so much why big animated companies such as Disney or Sony should think about casting her; However the actress fits perfectly with Warner Bros, as the studio delivers its best animated outing. Thirdly we have actor Danny DeVito known for The Lorax, Big Fish, L.A. Confidential, Mars Attacks!, Matilda etc. Although maybe not as strong of an actor as he used to be, DeVito has enough children targeted movies to deliver a somewhat funny, but simple performance as Migo’s dad, though despite the lack of creativeness with the character, the actors silly banter is more than enough for the type of audiences that will be most interested. Fourthly, there is actor James Corden known for Peter Rabbit, The Emoji Movie, All or Nothing, Trolls, Into the Woods etc. Corden tends to be downright hysterical in his films, especially the comedies, and although he most known for his wonderful TV programs and Late Night shows, recently, the actor has started to show solid talent for movies and is quickly developing to becoming a popular celebrity and while we have seen his worst movies such as The Emoji Movie where Corden was wasted, we have also seen his good performances in Trolls and Into the Woods which both intrigue similar types of audience; In Smallfoot, Corden delivers a hysterical performance, with clever development and just a pure sense of fun which pleases me enough to say that I have never enjoyed Corden’s presence as much as I have in this movie and the film obviously shows a bright future for Corden-starring kids flicks.

Quality

Directing this family-fare is filmmaker Karey Kirkpatrick known for James and the Giant Peach, Chicken Run, Over the Hedge, Imagine That etc. Clearly having a knick for children’s movies, Kirkpatrick clearly represents that interest in Smallfoot which he deftly develops a wonderful relatable message that resonates with older audiences too while surrounded by solid performances from a talented cast, impressive, colorful animation that should easily work as a wonderful distraction for children that although suffers from some cheesy antics, ultimately works as Warner Bros’ best animated movie and marking a new high with the genre. Special effects wise, Smallfoot stands at a 80M production budget which is the biggest production for a Warner Bros animated feature with Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (10M), The Lego Movie (60M), The Lego Ninjago Movie (70M), Storks (70M) and is tied with The Lego Batman Movie at 80M which is pretty solid considering another animated film released earlier this year, The Incredibles 2 which stood at a massive budget of 200M, so the 80M of Smallfoot is generally profitable for the Box Office and is impressively low for such complex, dazzling animation featured in the movie. Storyline wise, this tends to be the criteria that is a low-blow to an animated movie, and although a couple of times Smallfoot suffers from by-the-numbers plot development, it is one of the better kids movies going against that certain section which is impressive and surprisingly good as I was not expecting a clever, actually funny kids movie when walking into the theatre.

Aging ‘The Yeti’

Like other animated fare, Smallfoot is a tame, good messaged, heart-warming themed kids targeted movie with violence that includes the panicking when the humans encounter the yetis for the first time, the yetis have a somewhat frightening appearance (they are also sort of cute), some characters use dart guns and sleep darts to knock out the yetis, Mogi is caught in a bare trap and screams in pain, there is a tame plane crash with an explosion and there is also dramatic flashbacks with creepy music showing the horrors the humans gave the yetis (similar to how the Europeans were to the Natives) which is a little disturbing, but important scene for kids. Language wise, there are some insults including butt and dumb, there are also words such as crap, crazy, weird, pathetic, jerk and sucks, but this is extremely infrequent. Sexuality wise there are a couple scenes of playful flirting between yetis and Mogi clearly admires and likes Meechee as we see in a beginning scene.

Best Warner Bros. Animated Movies

Smallfoot 85% sweet

Violence: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Language: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Sex: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Age Rating: 6+

The Lego Batman Movie 75% sweet

Violence: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Language: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Sex: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Age Rating: 7+



Smallfoot 85% sweet

Storyline: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Cast: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

The Lego Batman Movie 75% sweet

Storyline: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Cast: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Role Models: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

News Related to Smallfoot

$plurge, $tream, $kip: Smallfoot delivers impressive animation, solid performances from a talented cast and a perfectly resonating message which is more than enough to cover up some slapstick ideas…$PLURGE IT