{"id":19189,"date":"2019-09-25T21:57:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19189"},"modified":"2019-09-25T21:57:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:57:14","slug":"abominable-has-beautiful-visuals-but-bland-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19189","title":{"rendered":"ABOMINABLE Has Beautiful Visuals, But Bland Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It is always strange how studios tend to develop similar\nprojects at the same time and double-down on them. There were two Wyatt Earp\nwesterns made the same year, and other examples in the past include two\nasteroid movies, two volcano flicks, as well as a pair of family features about\ninsects (specifically, Antz<\/em> and A Bug\u2019s Life<\/em>). Well, it appears\nto have happened once again. Abominable<\/em> is the second animated film this\nyear to use a large, hairy humanoid attempting to return home and find its\nfamily as subject matter (after the excellent Missing Link<\/em> arrived\nearlier in the year). This title is certainly nice to look at, but will\nhonestly only engage the youngest members of the family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yi (Chloe Bennet) is a young girl who has closed herself off\nemotionally from her family after the death of her father, giving up the violin\n(an activity with a connection to her deceased dad) and spending her days\nworking odd jobs for extra cash. Her life changes dramatically after\nencountering an escaped Yeti on the roof of the family\u2019s complex building.\nNaming him Everest, she learns that the creature is on the run from its\ncaptors, specifically Dr. Zaha (Sarah Paulson) and her wealthy benefactor\nBurnish (Eddie Izzard). As forces close in, Yi becomes determined to reunite\nthe Yeti with its kind and embarks on a lengthy trip across China from Shanghai\nto the Himalayas on the border of Nepal. Along for the ride and offering comic\nrelief are relatives Peng (Albert Tsai) and Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the movie assuredly features impressive\nvisuals. Despite being large and bulky, Everest is a cute-looking Yeti\ncreation. Both the Shanghai and natural environment are also beautiful. As the\ncharacters travel deeper into the wilderness, it offers the opportunity to\npresent some scenic backdrops. Everest\u2019s powers to manipulate nature grow\nstronger the closer they get to their destination, and it allows for a few\nimpressive scenarios. This includes a journey through the air between craggy, fog-drenched\nmountains on an enormous floating white dandelion. The most striking is a\nmakeshift sailing journey of sorts, as the creature causes canola fields to\nroll, sweep and crest like waves in the sea, pulling the characters away from\ntheir pursuers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, for adults the images are the only thing that will keep\none\u2019s attention. The dialogue is delivered slowly and the jokes are blunt and aimed\nat children. For example, while stowing away on a cargo boat heading inland,\nthe characters subsist on soda and find themselves burping a lot. As written,\nthe slowly-delivered and obvious interchanges don\u2019t do much to add a lot of\npersonality to the leads or involve viewers in the story. Their pursuers are\nfairly one-note as well, with one of the pair revealing themselves to be\nsinister and the other questioning their own motives behind proving the\nexistence of the Yeti. It\u2019s all done in an obvious manner and doesn\u2019t deliver\nanything you won\u2019t see coming miles ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another issue is Everest\u2019s continually increasing magical\npowers. They grow stronger and stronger as the group heads closer the\nHimalayas. This means that while it results in ever more impressive displays of\nEverest using the natural world to savie the children, the level of tension and\nconcern for the protagonists begins to lessen as he becomes a dominant force. In\nfact, one wonders why, given the supposed danger, Everest keeps waiting until\nthe very last minute to rescue himself and the children. Deep down, one guesses\nthat this Yeti may have a taste for unnecessary melodrama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, these criticisms of a family film may be a bit\nharsh. The environmentalist slant is welcome and the animation is quite beautiful\nat times. Small children will certainly like what they see and definitely enjoy\nthe picture overall. However, adults are less likely to be as involved in the\nproceedings. Abominable<\/em> will work for parents who want their kids\ndistracted while they zone-out for ninety minutes. Unfortunately, those looking\nfor memorable characters and a story that makes a dramatic impact will find\nthemselves lost in the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is always strange how studios tend to develop similar projects at the same time and double-down on them. There were two Wyatt Earp westerns made the same year, and other examples in the past include two asteroid movies, two volcano flicks, as well as a pair of family features about insects (specifically, Antz and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,649,650,651,652,785,932,1455,4270,4660,6700,7283,9185,17667,18147,19719,24602],"class_list":["post-19189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-abominable","tag-abominable-film-review","tag-abominable-movie-review","tag-abominable-review","tag-adventure","tag-albert-tsai","tag-animated","tag-chloe-bennet","tag-comedy","tag-eddie-izzard","tag-family","tag-himalayas","tag-sarah-paulson","tag-shanghai","tag-tenzing-norgay-trainor","tag-yeti"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}