Abominable (2019) - Written Review (Patreon)
Content
So I checked out DreamWorks & Pearl Studio's Abominable, a 3D-Animation about a teenage girl Yi befriends a Yeti and helps him return to his home in the Himalayas. The animation was pretty alright, no real complaints. I'm glad they had a lot of visual moments to let the characters express themselves, but I will admit there were pockets of the script in terms of the dialogue that needed work. I wish the film felt grander in portraying the variant settings of China, but felt like there were a few elements missing. Perhaps the space could have been more populated with foliage or terrain formation. Some scenes just felt so empty.
I am happy that the film did quite go with the typical troupes in some areas, doesn't mean there were none of the family film troupes, but I do wish we had some more exploration of Yi's past to help elevate the weight of her journey. I had reminiscences of emotional moments but didn't quite hit the mark as I wanted it to.
Pearl Studio clearly wanted to show more of the culture of China, but I wish this film took the artistic look way further than it did. I think that would helped the narrative flow better and make this world feel more alive and epic.
Overall, this film was just okay. I am not mad I saw it, but okay seeing it only this once. Kids did laugh in the theater typical kid parts, so it should retain the kid's attention for a while.
One semi-spoilers, I didn't care for the visuals in the credits. I thought it was extremely lazy, at least compared to previous DreamWorks animated films.