Rated: G
Written and Directed by: Jill Culton
Produced by: Suzanne Buirgy
Producer: Peilin Chou
Executive Producers: Tim Johnson, Frank Zhu, Li Ruigang
Starring: Chloe Bennet, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, Tsai Chin, Michelle Wong.
Yi (Chloe Bennet) lives in an apartment in a busy Chinese city with her mum and grandma.
She keeps herself busy; too busy to play with her neighbour, all braces and squeaky-voiced, Peng (Albert Tsai), and Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) who is typically teen self-obsessed.
Because if she stops for a moment, then she’ll remember her dad is gone.
The only time Yi allows herself to remember her dad is when playing violin. And that’s when she meets Everest – up on the rooftop where the yeti is hiding from the people who had captured him and kept him in a cage.
On the run from the bug-eyed and rich explorer Burnish (Eddie Izzard) and zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson), the trio decide to take Everest back home. Back to the Himalayas. And so the adventure begins.
The DreamWorks Animation team have outdone themselves, the trailer for Abominable not translating just how majestic the film is on the big screen. There were so many times I said, ‘Amazing’ and ‘Wow’ from watching the trio of kids and yeti ride a wave of yellow blossoms to see raindrops fall to the earth to unfurl into flowers. And not just a few times, the film is just one wonderful moment after another.
It’s the detail and captured behaviour in those details of even the small characters that delights – ‘You just darted Dave!’ from a gun-for-hire; and the grandmother captured so well with her constant, ‘that’s what I say’.
And there’s an intricate story here about family and grief but also about the magic of nature where, ‘It’s amazing how small you feel, just looking up.’
Where there are those who appreciate nature and those who want to cut it down and take it home.
‘I own that yeti,’ says the brutish Burnish.
And the yeti, Everest was not abominable but adorable with his underbite and puppy-like behaviour.
I love that furry critter!
And so did my nephews who enjoyed the film just as much as I did; one asking if I was OK at one point because I was a little teary with the sweetness of it all. I even got a hug.
Funny and sweet and beautifully realised, Abominable is a real treat.