Abominable is an impressive movie filled with terrific animation with heart and soul at its center.
As the movie opens, we’re introduced to a teenage girl named Yi (Chloe Bennet) who lives in Shanghai with her mother and grandmother. Her father died years earlier, but not before leaving her with his prized violin.
Yi has aspirations of being a violinist, but all that is put on hold when a magical, mystical Yeti arrives and Yi is compelled to protect it and return it home to Mt. Everest. The yeti gives itself this name after seeing a picture of the famed landmark.
Yi isn’t alone in the fight as she’s accompanied by a dynamic duo (Tenzing Norgay Trainor and Albert Tsai) as they join her. One is willing to go along for the ride; the other is merely content with posting pictures of his new shoes.
They encounter a wealthy aristocrat (Eddie Izzard) and his zoologist (Sarah Paulson) who want to recapture the Yeti and place him back into captivity.
Abominable has more in common with E.T. in its structure: The kids find an unearthly creature with magical powers and they hatch a plan to return him home before he falls into the hands of others who may want to harm him. Other than that, this movie doesn’t reach the perfect heights of Spielberg’s classic.
One thing Abominable does have going for it is a sense of wonder with this animation which is very detailed in scene after scene and the kids do a terrific amount of voice work to supply the film’s brain and heart.
DreamWorks’ foray into animation may not be as ambitious or memorable as say, Pixar, but between this and the How to Train Your Dragon series, they still have a few surprises up their sleeve.
Abominable is a consistent joy ride for kids and adults and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get an Abominable 2.
Grade: B+
(Rated PG for some action and mild rude humor.)
This review is dedicated to the memories of Mark Chesser and Irvin Poole
