I have been watching the trailers for Early Man for several weeks now. With animation reminiscent of Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit. That makes sense, as these films were all products of Aardman Animations. I had to see Black Panther first, but I was able to catch this film as a Monday matinee since Monday was a holiday. I'm not sure what I expected, but this film fell a little bit short of the mark for me. But it was still worth seeing at matinee prices (or free for those of us with Moviepass).
Dug (Eddie Redmayne) is a stone-age man living in a bronze-age world. Although he doesn't know it yet. Dug's tribe lives in a remote area in what is now Manchester. The prehistoric version is a lush valley with plenty of rabbits to hunt. Although Dug's tribe isn't exactly the best at hunting rabbits. Or engaging in any type of organized activity for that matter. In a word, they are kind of dumb. When Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) arrives with his bronze-age excavating equipment, the tribe is scattered to the badlands. All except for Dug, who inadvertently lands himself in a load of ore headed to a modern bronze-age city with his pet, Hognob (Nick Park).
When Dug discovers that football (soccer) is popular in this strange new city, he issues a challenge. If his tribe can beat the defending football champions, his tribe gets their valley back. If they fail, the entire tribe will be sent to to the mines to labor the rest of their lives away. Dug has until the full moon to train his tribe to play soccer. At a professional level. The fate of his tribe is in his hands. His own doubts and lack of confidence threaten his success as much as his tribe's lack of coordination. But, as they say, that is why you play the game.
Early Man is your typical hackneyed underdog story. It can be any other underdog story ever written. However, it takes a unique approach to the subject matter and the animation was fun to watch. While the plot was fairly predictable, the film took several opportunities to insert some cheap visual humor. That works for me. Sometimes mindless fun is okay. I was not aware that soccer was a central theme in this story based on the trailers. I thought there would be more of a discovery element as stone-age man encountered bronze-age technology. That aspect was fairly limited. The narrative arc was typical. The pacing was okay. The dialogue was sharp. Typical British humor. Overall, the writers did a decent job with a formulaic story line.
Star power is one thing Early Man was not short on. With a 50 million dollar budget, they could afford just about whoever they wanted to cast. In addition to Hiddleston and Redmayne, the cast included Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), Timothy Spall and Richard Ayoade. The actors did a great job of offering their voices to this film. The animation was integrated seamlessly with the voices. It is interesting to watch this type of animation as speech. It looked and sounded great. The animation was another bonus. I like this type of animation.
Early Man received a PG rating from the MPAA. This film is designed for kids. Complete with a bit of bathroom humor. The one hour, 29 minute film does not have much disagreeable content. The rating is based on the silly potty humor. There isn't much in the way of violence (although we see a live rabbit roasting on a spit, the rabbit makes his escape in due time). This film is intended for a young audience. You should be fine with any age family member.
Overall, I enjoyed Early Man enough to have paid matinee prices at the theater. Even better, I used my Moviepass to see it for free. But at matinee prices, I would not have been disappointed. I liked it a bit better than IMDb. It is original in its approach, but the story is predictable and vapid. I admit that I chuckled a few times and I enjoyed the animation. It isn't the best animated film I have seen in a while, but I have seen far worse. This is one you can wait for on video. Or maybe catch at the matinee. I was thinking 6.5 but I am feeling a bit more generous. 7/10.
Photos and Video are property of Aardman Studios.
