Ever since The LEGO Movie became a huge hit, Warner Animation Group has hit a stride in crafting a distinct style of animation that has allowed it to play among the heavy hitters like Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks. The LEGO franchise has been consistently fun, and Storks was criminally underseen. Now, we have Smallfoot, a high concept feature from director, Karey Kirkpatrick, who co-wrote the film with screenwriting duo, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
The high concept is basically “what if bigfoot saw humans the way we saw them?” We’re introduced to a tight knit yeti community high up the mountain. They live their lives through the stones, which are these blocks with various rules and codes of conduct carved onto them. The most significant one being that they are all there is, and the clouds below them signify the start of “the nothingness.” We follow one yeti, Migo (Channing Tatum), who finds himself bumping into a smallfoot that survived a plane crash, throwing off his entire worldview. He tries to convince the others, but is banished for his blasphemy by the chief, Stonekeeper (Common). He is soon met with a small group of yeti who believe in the existence of smallfoot, so they hatch up a plan so he can prove he was right.
The thing that struck me the most about the film was how it was very willing to dive into some of its heady ideas. Despite all the zaniness, the film is all about religious dogma, anti-intellectualism, and the need to question authority. The colorful cast of characters that Migo joins, which consists of Gwangi (LeBron James), Kolka (Gina Rodriguez), Flem (Ely Henry), and their leader, Meechee (Zendaya, yeah, good luck not thinking about that video during the movie), are an engaging bunch, but they’re united by the idea of challenging everything that they’ve been conditioned to simply go along with. Meechee is also the daughter of the Stonekeeper, which brings an interesting dynamic to the group and how they relate to the rest of the community. Admittedly, it’s by no means as deep as it could be, especially compared to other films that explore similar themes, but there’s still a radical edge that comes when a film aimed at kids openly discusses these ideas. It’s not just daring, but also kind of necessary.
Aside from that, it falls in line with what you’d expect from a WB animated film. It’s full of energy, it’s got rapid-fire joke deliveries both in irreverent remarks and physical gags, and there’s a lot of heart and charm with the characters. If there is anything to criticize, it’s that the film is never as inventive with its characters and humor as it is with its commitment to its theme. They certainly work more often than they don’t, but there is a very business-as-usual feeling over most of those elements. There are some musical numbers, which is new for these recent WB films. The songs are catchy in the moment, but aren’t particularly memorable. And I don’t know if this was a speaker issue or what, but a couple songs don’t seem to be mixed all that well since the voice felt buried under all the music.
While the celebrity voice cast doesn’t do much in terms of stretching, they’re all solid here. Tatum is affable and earnest in a way that could come across dopey under less charming hands. Zendaya uses her voice to great effect since she’s been given the best song. And while I’m generally not a James Corden fan, he is perfectly cast here as a hackneyed TV personality. LeBron James also gets a few laughs, but the rest of the characters are a tad on the thin side. Oddly enough, Danny Devito doesn’t get many jokes, and ends up stuck playing Migo’s concerned father, but he makes it work.
So, yeah, Smallfoot doesn’t have those extra touches to really make it great, especially compared to previous WB films. However, it’s still very good. It’s an enjoyable romp with beautiful animation and fun characters that also manages to sneak in some big, bold ideas about what it means to challenge what you were raised to believe, and how to encourage critical thinking and change. It touches on subjects that kids should be exposed to, and I think the film succeeds overall in conveying that message, not despite being a silly and childish affair, but because of it.