Spoiler: movie summery
As the movie moves along we meet the disgruntled relationship of father and daughter, M.K. who has just gone through the passing of her mother and her father who left the family to chase fairies. It is obvious that M.K. doesn’t connect with her father, and her father seems so wrapped up in what he is doing that he doesn’t seem to notice who she has become, an overly common dilemma in today’s movies be they cartoons or just the run of the mill summer movie.
Within the first few minutes we are allowed to see these tiny people who live in the forest around the house M.K. has just arrived to. It doesn’t surprise me that only a little bit into the movie we get a clear view of who is on what side, as it is normal to the genera. The ‘good’ guys are of course dressed in green with the name Leafmen, while the ‘bad’ guys are gray, riding crows and ravens, screaming and screeching horrible noises are known as Boggans. We meet the main hero, Nod, as he is falling, tripping and bouncing his way across the large green forest to escape the Boggans. A leader figure enters to assist Nod, who turns out to be Ronin, the leader of the leafmen and father-like figure to our hero-to-be.
The queen of the forest, Queen Tara is about to choose an heir to her throne and goes out to a field of leaf pods, maintained by a slug and snail pair named Mub and Grub. Tara is forced to flee the area with the pod when Boggans attack. When Mandrake and his son Dagda catch up, Dagda is killed by Ronin, but Tara is shot by Mandrake. In an almost ‘Alice in wonderland’ scene, Tara shrinks M.K., pulling her into her world and gives her instructions to take the pod. After teaming up with Ronin, Nod and the comedic slug and snail pair, M.K. discovers that she must help the pod bloom in moonlight to be brought back to her normal size. Of course on this adventure Nod and M.K. begin to fall for each other as they adventure thought boggan territory to retrieve the pod after Mandrake takes it in an attempt to bloom it in darkness and bring forth a prince of darkness. M.K. has to employ the help of her father to drive Mandrake away and save the forest. With the defeat of Mandrake, the restoration of M.K. back to her normal form, in full belief of her father and the crowning of a new queen of the forest, Epic seems to end in fairytale happiness.
Within the first few minutes we are allowed to see these tiny people who live in the forest around the house M.K. has just arrived to. It doesn’t surprise me that only a little bit into the movie we get a clear view of who is on what side, as it is normal to the genera. The ‘good’ guys are of course dressed in green with the name Leafmen, while the ‘bad’ guys are gray, riding crows and ravens, screaming and screeching horrible noises are known as Boggans. We meet the main hero, Nod, as he is falling, tripping and bouncing his way across the large green forest to escape the Boggans. A leader figure enters to assist Nod, who turns out to be Ronin, the leader of the leafmen and father-like figure to our hero-to-be.
The queen of the forest, Queen Tara is about to choose an heir to her throne and goes out to a field of leaf pods, maintained by a slug and snail pair named Mub and Grub. Tara is forced to flee the area with the pod when Boggans attack. When Mandrake and his son Dagda catch up, Dagda is killed by Ronin, but Tara is shot by Mandrake. In an almost ‘Alice in wonderland’ scene, Tara shrinks M.K., pulling her into her world and gives her instructions to take the pod. After teaming up with Ronin, Nod and the comedic slug and snail pair, M.K. discovers that she must help the pod bloom in moonlight to be brought back to her normal size. Of course on this adventure Nod and M.K. begin to fall for each other as they adventure thought boggan territory to retrieve the pod after Mandrake takes it in an attempt to bloom it in darkness and bring forth a prince of darkness. M.K. has to employ the help of her father to drive Mandrake away and save the forest. With the defeat of Mandrake, the restoration of M.K. back to her normal form, in full belief of her father and the crowning of a new queen of the forest, Epic seems to end in fairytale happiness.
First of all, let me address the ‘bad’ guys. As with the normal stereotypical ‘bad’ guy, Mandrak, was shrouded in shadows, even wearing a rat skin cape. His name itself comes from a plant in the nightshade family. His gray complexion and affiliation with the rot and destruction of the forest made him fall into the category of aesthetically evil characters. What sets him apart is his redeeming quality not normally found in villains: his love for his son. Often villains are portrayed as bad parents, not paying attention to their kids or letting their children strive for their approval without any hope for credit. Mandrake obviously loves his son, for in the scene where he falls to the forest floor and dies, Mandrake abandons his chase of the Queen and Ronin. He steals the pod with the intention of resurrecting his son. How many villains would abandon their evil plans for their kids?
The next point I want to make is that Epic is not a simple black and white movie. Not only does the main villain have a redeeming quality but there is a realistic balance. A forest needs things to die and to rot in order for other things to grow. They made a mention to Queen Tara keeping Mandrake in check, but not of them fighting him as if to ride the forest of him. When the queen dies the delicate balance of death and life is broken, but when another queen takes over and things began to regrow they would ideally be healthier and better for the death of all the others. My point is, Mandrake and what he stands for is not ‘bad’ and everything is in perfect balance as long as the two forces exist together.
With the bad guys not being all that bad, it made me wonder why people still wanted to hate him. Mandrake is a villain I could learn to love, learn to care for and in his own way he is good for the forest. I was sad when they ended the movie with him being trapped in a tree, almost as upset as I was when Ronin had to stay behind and fight the boggans by himself. Black, white, green, gray, Epic was none the less a very vibrant and colorful movie no matter what side you are on.