Whimsical animated fantasy has a lot of heart

“EPIC.” Thinly veiled allegory for today’s industrial pillage of Mother Nature and her bounties.

Our trigenerational nuclear family of three tries to see at least one movie together a week, so last Sunday we breezily rushed to our favorite mall cineplex to take our chances on what the commercial mainstream circuit had to offer. Due to the exigencies of conflicting schedules, we were more or less resigned to watching “Hangover 3,” even if advance word on it was “more of the same-same.”

Another possible choice was the nth installment of another predictable albeit profitable film franchise, but we were even less excited about that prospect. The consensus was that the “final” (promise?) “Hangover” installment was the better choice or lesser evil, so we joined the long line at the box office.

Flick of choice

In any case, we consoled ourselves, even if our flick of choice would turn out to be a dud, all was not lost for our afternoon adventure, because we did much more at our favorite mall than just watch the latest flicks.

Why, it had practically become our all-around playground, where we shopped for groceries, ruminated and marinated in bookstores, bought art supplies for our alternative career as a visual artist (translation: neurotic doodlebug), heard Mass, walked around for hours on end to keep old age at bay, bumped into old friends who were so comfy that they absentmindedly left their dentures at home (—ah, no, that was us), window-shopped until we dropped, had merienda or early dinner—etc.!

In any case, as we stood in line for our group grope of ostensibly hilarious gross-out humor, we belatedly saw that a third film was being shown at the cineplex—“Epic,” a full-length animated feature about elementals defending their last remaining patch of forest. We recalled having recently seen its very promising trailer, and instantly made the decision to watch it instead!

—Trouble was, by the time that we had sidled up to the ticket seller, we were informed that “Epic” was showing in only one moviehouse, and tickets were almost sold out! In fact, the last remaining seats were right smack in front of the movie screen, take it or leave it. —After a hasty consultation, we took it!

Well, we didn’t regret our decision at all! The whimsical fantasy film had really lovely imaginative visuals, and a lot of heart, too, as it told its instructive and affecting tale about an evil and polluting force bent on killing everything natural and beautiful, and replacing the vibrant natural world’s life with sullen death.

Clearly, the film’s story was a thinly veiled allegory for today’s industrial pillage of Mother Nature and her bounties—but, to its credit, the movie’s allusions were simply inferred and not a hard sell at all.

The only fly in the film’s ointment was an overlong middle part that featured a supporting, multiple-limbed character who sang and danced for all he was worth, but didn’t turn out to be the droll delight he was obviously meant to be.

Well, the movie managed to survive that considerable slump, and went on to its richly deserved Happy Ending. For our nuclear family’s part, we were glad that serendipity and just plain cinematic luck had turned our dim viewing prospects into an unexpectedly memorable experience!

—Catch “Epic” and have yourselves a fun time at the flicks, too, why don’t you?