One of the benefits of my A-List Membership is that IMax and Real3D are included in the flat-rate price of $19.99 per month. Since joining A-List, I have seen two movies in IMax, a format that I rarely pay for. I sometimes splurge for 3D, although admittedly stopped seeing 3D when I subscribed to Moviepass last year, because that format was not included. My first venture back into 3D in quite a while was the animated film Smallfoot. Loosely based on a theme of dictatorship (or possibly religion), the film skims over a deep subject with a superficial look at expanding your horizons and challenging what you have been told to believe.
Migo (Channing Tatum) is a curious Yeti. He lives in a Yeti village at the top of a mountain, above the "clouds." The village has a Pollyanna existence where everyone has a job to do. The jobs all center on a loosely formed theocracy based on "knowledge stones" worn by the tribal leader, Stonekeeper (Common). Everything is peachy for Migo. He will soon take over the duties of gong-ringer. The gong-ringer wakes up the giant snail that creeps across the sky, lighting the world. His training sets him off course when he inadvertently ends up outside the village as an airplane crash lands. After witnessing a smallfoot first hand, Migo returns to alert the village. With the evidence washed away by the wind and snow, Migo is banished until he can learn to follow the rules. Rule number one? Don't challenge the authority of the stones.
Migo ends up in the company of a small band of Yeti who believe the smallfoot exists. With their encouragement, he descends below the clouds to investigate. With proof that the smallfoot exists, the entire village will be forced to challenge everything they know and believe. As one stone aptly notes, "ignorance is bliss." Migo soon finds the dark secrets of Yeti genocide and human cruelty, leading hit to publicly deny his own clear understanding of the world in favor of a society built on a lie. His struggle to come to grips with his own integrity leads to a dramatic confrontation and resolution of societal restrictions.
This subject matter is a tough topic to cover in a film designed for kids. First, the depiction of a totalitarian society that exists as a well-oiled machine where everyone is happy, harmonious and well taken care of seems counter-intuitive. More importantly, how do you delve into a dark topic that has caused so much harm to society in a film meant to have an upbeat Everything is Awesome feel? You can't. Instead, the film draws a few curious characters that drive the story, challenging what they believe, confronting new realities and helping their communities to adapt to new information. It is delivered in a story that has a mildly interesting narrative arc but struggles with delivery. Animated films rely on strong dialogue to compensate for the format. Smallfoot suffers from trite, platitudinous dialogue that fails to give the characters depth. The only thing 3D about this film was the format. The characters were flat.
Common seems to be in everything these days. He was solid in Smallfoot, adding the best musical score with a rap called Let it Lie. The song had the best writing of anything in this film, encapsulating the history of the Yeti and their struggles. It was a nice contrast to the other tepid musical scores that sounded generic and boring. As voice actors, Smallfoot assembled an all-star cast that included Tatum, Danny DeVito, James Corden, Zendaya, Lebron James, Gina Rodriguez and many more. The voice-overs did not do much to add impact to the weak writing, but at least there was some star power in the credits. The dialogue did little to help the actors deliver their lines.
The MPAA gave Smallfoot a family-friendly PG rating. My wife and I were the only adults in the theater who were not accompanied by children. This film really is meant for children. Some animated films manage to reach adults as well, but this film was far too superficial. The rating includes some silly "rude" humor, and some thematic elements that cursorily touched on genocide. There were also tranquilizer guns incorporated into the story. This film is good for all ages. The "monsters" (whichever direction you want to view that from) are drawn with animated endearment. They are lovable, not scary. They are portrayed that way as well. Kids will enjoy this film, parents may groan from time to time. The humor was not very good. The film has a run time of one hour, 36 minutes.
There are some good themes in Smallfoot. There are also some poorly addressed, deep subjects that seemed a bit trite for my taste. Was this a treatise on religion? A swipe at Trump? Or was it a convenient formula for a feel-good film about friendship and new horizons? You pick. I thought it was a bit under-developed and cliched. I know I constantly harp on hackneyed writing. But Hollywood needs to do better. I think that is why I enjoy films from A24 so much. That production company seems to find a lot of films that are thoughtful and unique. This film is a generic, typical, kid-oriented film. It doesn't have the staying power of Frozen or the campy endearing qualities of Lego Movie. It is a throw away opportunity to squeeze a few bucks out of parents. Wait for it on your streaming service. 6.5/10.
