As the weather turned colder, Lara and I had to fight to save our tomato crop from blight. In a funny way, it reminded me of the movie Epic - we could have done with some Leafmen on our side.
Epic is made by the creators of Ice Age and the style of animation is familiar (but I think it is quite a lot more impressive, certainly when it comes to human(ish) characters. Epic tells the tale of M.K (Amanda Seyfried) who is a human who takes on the legacy of the queen of the Leafmen (Beyoncé) to help with their fight to save their forest from blight.
Collin Farrell gives the voice of the Leafmen's commander (he's a little over-enthusiastic in his missions) and Josh Hutcherson plays one of his descenting ex-soldiers. To be honest, Lara has no idea who plays each of the voice characters and in fact it is the characterisation of the animated people that had her enthralled. There is something very magical about the idea that there exists a whole world of tiny beings that we are all to busy or blind to notice and Lara seemed to have been inspired by the magic and the green forests - I think it reminded her of Tinkerbell and the fairies.
Lara liked the characters of Mub and Grub (a slug and a snail) who added a little bit of humour to an animation that I would otherwise describe as an action movie with a magical twist. Epic is recommended for children from 7+ but even a few years younger Lara really seemed to enjoy it (and I can well imagine her re-enacting some of the scenes with her friends at school next week).
I thought Epic was great movie for Lara right now as it really drew parallels with some of the things she has been learning at school this term about the 'fairy forest' at the back of the school grounds; the benefits of rotten leaves and plants and the roles that different bugs play in the circle of life. There are points in the movie which could flow a bit better to keep up the action pace but I think for a slightly older child the attention span issue wouldn't be so great!
Epic is out now on DVD and Blu Ray - on both of them there are special features such as an educational short video about the real equivalents of the characters - slugs, snails and birds. On the Blu Ray you can also find out about the concepts of camouflage along with the 'making of' Epic shorts.
