Animated adventure tackles grown-up issues

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This article was published 29/09/2018 (2920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Comically — and often subversively — upending the Bigfoot story, this appealing but uneven animated adventure takes us to a yeti village high up on a Himalayan mountain. In this world, Smallfoots (that would be we humans, with our parkas, cellphones and ludicrously tiny feet) are the mythical beasts.

Channing Tatum voices Migo, a cheerfully lunkheaded young yeti. When Migo accidentally ventures a little too far into the big wide world, he has a brief encounter with an elusive small-footed creature, only to find his fellow villagers don’t believe him.

The Stonekeeper (rapper and actor Common), a priestly leader who keeps the yetis in line with laws proclaimed by ancient stones, is very clear: Smallfoots don’t exist. Period.

Migo tries his best to reject the testament of his own eyes. He’s been raised to push any questions he has about orthodox doctrine right down into his stomach. (He even sings a rather charming song about this.) But his conviction that he saw what he saw is bolstered when he meets the freethinkers of the SES, the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society.

Led by the brainy Meechee (singer and actor Zendaya), who happens to be the Stonekeeper’s daughter and Migo’s big crush, the SES. organizes a mission to the lower altitudes, where Migo runs into Percy (the affable James Corden).

A TV naturalist with failing ratings and a rising mortgage rate, Percy is desperately in need of a viral video. (He sings a rather charming song about this during Bowie karaoke night.)

This yeti-human encounter leads to misconceptions on both sides, comically conveyed by the fact that Percy hears Migo’s friendly dialogue as incoherent roaring, while Percy’s protestations sound to Migo like incomprehensible squeaking.

Eventually, these miscommunications and misunderstandings lead to a meaningful cross-cultural encounter.

Winnipeggers will appreciate a cold-and-snow positive story, especially after that stinker Norm of the North, the last sub-zero children’s cartoon. Director Karey Kirkpatrick (Over the Hedge) pulls off some visually stunning vistas of frigid, rocky mountain landscapes.

Kids will like the Warner Bros.-style physical comedy, which pops up in some funny slapstick sequences.

Adults will be impressed or dismayed, depending on their ideological bent, by the movie’s willingness to tackle issues roiling the grown-up world.

Rejecting received dogma and narrow tribalism while championing rationalism, scientific enquiry and critical thinking, the scriptwriting team (which includes The Princess Diaries’ Clare Sera, as well as Bad Santa bad boys John Requa and Glenn Ficarra) seems to confirm American Republicans’ worst fears about Hollywood as a hotbed of secular humanism.

Unfortunately, this ambitious epistemological wrangling can be a bit too much for what is, in other ways, a surprisingly formulaic cartoon.

The subversive themes aren’t always effectively integrated into the conventional story, resulting in sections of clunky, stompy exposition.

Smallfoot showcases a talented vocal cast, some impressive animation and a likable blend of humour and energy, but all these parts never quite come together.

There is probably a better movie in there somewhere, but it remains a mythical beast, glimpsed but not caught.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca