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"Director: Chris Wedge; Screenwriters: Tom J Astle, Matt Ember, James V Hart; Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Beyonc\u00C3\u00A9, Jason Sudeikis; Running time: 102 mins; Certificate: U  Blue Sky Studios may be plucky underdogs when measured next to the brilliance of Pixar, but their ongoing Ice Age series and 2011&amp;#039;s Rio show they know a thing or two about putting together bright and buoyant animated adventures. Their latest offering Epic takes inspiration from William Joyce&amp;#039;s book The Leaf Men and the Grave Good Bugs, bringing to life a miniature forest world populated by warriors riding atop hummingbirds, an evil tribe of Boggans led by Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) and a Mother Nature ruler called Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonc\u00C3\u00A9). There&amp;#039;s a human component to the story, too, with Amanda Seyfried providing the viewer entry point as teen Mary Katherine (she prefers to go by MK). The death of MK&amp;#039;s mother prompts her to move in with estranged father Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis), a crackpot inventor who, with his shock of ginger hair, is the spitting image of Conan O&amp;#039;Brien.  Bomba is keen to prove the existence of an advanced civilisation beyond human sight, but it&amp;#039;s sceptical MK who stumbles upon them first after finding herself miniaturised and holding a pod that could save the world of Moonhaven and its Leafmen inhabitants from extinction. A big-scale battle between good and evil ensues, as the forest&amp;#039;s regenerative power fades next to Mandrake&amp;#039;s ability to turn every living thing into ash. There are echoes of FernGully and Avatar in Epic&amp;#039;s eco underpinnings and sweeping shots of vibrant green. Though it&amp;#039;s packed with immaculate design and eye-catching aerial set pieces, the film is ultimately let down by a script that leans too heavily on fantasy adventures of yesteryear and characters that never quite capture the imagination like Ice Age&amp;#039;s Scrat or Pixar&amp;#039;s protagonists. The likes of Josh Hutcherson and Colin Farrell voice characters who cut heroic figures, while humour comes courtesy of a pair of wise-cracking molluscs (Aziz Ansari and Chris O&amp;#039;Dowd) and Steven Tyler&amp;#039;s caterpillar Nim Galuu. One of the funniest gags, though, arrives courtesy of a fruit fly who experiences his entire life cycle in just a few short seconds. Epic&amp;#039;s stand-out sequence happens away from the forest when the miniature heroes head back into MK&amp;#039;s home. There are obstacles aplenty as they leap down from tables, dodge a three-legged dog and try to avoid detection from Bomba. There&amp;#039;s a hint of The Borrowers about the sequence, yet all it really does is make you wonder how neat it could be to see a modernised 3D CGI take on Mary Norton&amp;#039;s classic story instead. Epic may lack the replay value of a many of its animation peers, but nevertheless it&amp;#039;s a visually striking and likeable time-passer. Just don&amp;#039;t expect it to stand the test of time like the classier offerings from Pixar or Aardman.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/review/a481466/epic-review-beyonc-stars-in-new-blue-sky-studios-animation/>