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Director: Karey Kickpatrick
Release date: September 28, 2018
Rating: ★★½
Review:

In the strange world of American computer animated feature films, movies with the same story subjects are released at the same time. This phenomenon was particularly striking in the industry’s earliest years, but in 2018-2019 it struck again. This was apparently the year of yetis, with Warner Bros.’ releasing ‘Smallfoot’ in September 2018, Laika ‘Missing Link’ in April and Dreamworks ‘Abominable’ in September 2019.

Of these three ‘Smallfoot’ was thus released first. The film was made by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, a rather late addition to the American computer animation studio scene, debuting in 2014 with the excellent ‘The Lego Movie’. Since then, the studio has failed to get its own signature (the Lego movies are like a brand of their own, feeling more like Lego movies than Warner Bros. ones), and ‘Smallfoot’ certainly does nothing to change that.

In fact, animation, design, story, and style are all so incredibly generic the film could have been made by any studio save Walt Disney and Pixar, the only studios with a distinct style. The only surprise element of ‘Smallfoot’ is the fact that it’s a musical. And although I’m no musical fan, I must say the songs are rather good. Even better, ‘Smallfoot’ is the first musical with a genuine hip hop number, with alternative rapper Common voicing the Stonekeeper (rappers had voiced animation characters before, like Tone-Lōc voicing the goanna in ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’ (1992), but he doesn’t rap there).

‘Smallfoot’ starts with the voice-over of Migo (Channing Tatum), a cheerful young yeti introducing his own village and its rather silly mythology. Immediately thereafter Migo sings a happy song about how perfect his world is, and we know for sure that this character is set up for a major disappointment. And indeed, when Migo is accidentally catapulted outside the village, he sees a supposedly mythical ‘smallfoot’ (a.k.a. human) and from then his world view starts to tilt.

Interestingly, the naive Migo is joined by a group of dissidents, led by a young female yeti called Meechee (voiced by Zendaia), who’s way ahead of our hero. Meechee is such an independent, curious and powerful character that when Meechee sings ‘Wonderful Life’ to Migo this is practically ‘A Whole New World’ from ‘Aladdin’ in reverse. In fact, Meechee is a much more interesting character than Migo and it’s a pity ‘Smallfoot’ isn’t her film.

The third main character is Percy Patterson, a film maker of wildlife documentaries, who apparently has reached a low point in his career. Of all the film’s characters Percy is the most annoying and the least developed. Percy’s story arc is very poor: he remains such a jerk in most of his scenes that his final redemption is utterly unbelievable. Likewise, how Percy manages altitude sickness is beyond any believability.

Unfortunately, Migo’s progress also pushes boundaries of believability. As the filmmakers seem willing to tick all the familiar boxes, Migo undergoes the obligatory breakup scene – but this is an extreme one, with Migo denying his friends and his own views in public. We know why he does it, but the motivation is in fact rather weak, and it’s an enormous breach of character. Likewise, the following reconciliation feels forced and way too easy, given this severe betrayal. And don’t start me on the glorious rainbow finale that defies all we had learned before.

‘Smallfoot’ has a strong message that one should not believe everything, but that one should investigate oneself. But the film also features a ‘deep state’ or ‘fake news’-scheme of epic proportions, so the message is a rather confusing one. If anything, I’d say the film is anti-religion, but I wonder if that is according to the film makers’ intentions.

No, apart from the songs the film’s power is in its humor. Despite all its flaws and cliches ‘Smallfoot’ is an entertaining and funny film. The roasting scene is a particular highlight in that respect. I also like the idea that humans and yetis can’t understand each other at all, and their voices mutually sound like puny squeeks and fearsome growls, respectively. So the film is not a drag, on the contrary. Nevertheless, to carve out its own niche in the crowded feature animation world, Warner Bros. animation certainly will have to do better.

Watch the trailer for ‘Smallfoot’ yourself and tell me what you think: