Warner Animation Group

(On Cable TV, May 2019) There’s been a surprisingly robust subgenre of animated movies about large humanoids in the past few years, so you may be excused if you can’t tell Smallfoot from Abominable, Missing Link, The Son of Bigfoot and Mission Kathmandu. This one inverts the formula, by being told from the yeti’s point of view as he comes across and befriends a little boy. It’s a serviceable animated film—its technical qualities are good without being exceptional (although some of the character design is questionable), and the script is a cut above the strict minimum. The physical comedy often approaches Looney Tunes territory (appropriate for a film by the Warner Animation Group) even if the musical moments aren’t always well-integrated. But Smallfoot’s script remains its strongest suit, what with touching upon conceptual breakthroughs, seemingly necessary lies and getting along after years of open warfare. The result is sympathetic, and the ending reaches a thesis/antithesis/synthesis compromise that seems unusually complex—although this being a kid’s movie, it ends well for everyone. Smallfoot doesn’t have the Asian setting distinction of Abominable, the spectacular stop-motion of Missing Link or the regional charms of The Son of Bigfoot and Mission Kathmandu, but it’s perfectly acceptable in its own way.

(On Cable TV, May 2017) There are a lot of animated kid movies in theatres these days, and Storks does seem poured in the same mould as most of them: Imaginative premises, anthropomorphized characters, madcap action sequences, pat emotional core, musical interludes … and so on. While Strokes doesn’t venture too far away from the formula, it does execute it decently and thrown in a few good laughs along the way. The two lead characters have their appeal, and Stork does allow itself a few minutes to explore plot tangents that are nearly superfluous to the plot. (It particularly liked the “stork landing zone” construction project that bonds the family … and proves itself useless.) It doesn’t amount to much more than a serviceable film of its genre … but that’s not bad. For the Warner Animation Group, it’s a way to step out of The Lego Movie shadow and show that they can develop their own properties. They haven’t scored a unanimous success yet, but they’re in the running.