Abominable

It can be a rare occurrence to find a kid-friendly animated film these days that actually surprises and delights. Dreamworks' Abominable, written and co-directed by Jill Culton, does indeed surprise and delight, all while following a familiar hero's journey tale that borrows from favorite friendly creature films.

Yes, as it turns out — not only is Abominable as amusing as the competition, it boasts a lyricism and sweetness uniquely, sublimely its own.

An animated fable set in contemporary China and voiced in colloquial English, this Chinese-American co-production is so distinctive pictorially, and so manifestly good-hearted, that it’s easy to forgive if not quite forget the ragged quality of its storyline.

The second half’s series of hollow visual spectacles foreground the film as a corporate product.

Abominable is a simple, sweet, slight story that’s been told before, and told better.

Abominable isn’t a bad film, and the Chinese violin renders some moments quite touching. But it is dull and some of that comes from the similar animated films that beat it to market over the past year.

Here’s a defanged, declawed yeti in an animation whose every beat, character and narrative component feels as if it has been algorithmically tested for commercial safety by a computer programme.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Whether you've seen it in another film from the same studio (i.e. "How To Train Your Dragon" or "Home") or any other family film in general (i.e. "Missing Link," "Lilo & Stitch" or "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial") you've definitely seen this story before. That aside though, this is still a treat for the eyes -- albeit intermittently, and only during the sequences where it knows it has to be -- with an undeniably cute mythical beast at the center of the proverbial stage. I only wish that the narrative stylings and humor were as well realized as some of the set pieces and character designs are.

A good family movie that anyone can go and have fun, and receive some heartfelt messages.

Stupid. Outside of the good animation, this movie has nothing to offer. No interesting characters, no new twists on worn out story tropes, no convincing drama, nothing.

Why do critics like this one so much? It's aggressively formulaic and predictable and doesn't even TRY to do anything new with it's story whatsoever. It's also painfully unfunny, and the yeti looks absolutely stupid. It gets 3 points for the nice scenery and nothing else. There's literal COUNTLESS superior alternatives out there, don't even bother with this.