Animation fans likely were spoiled by the riches of 2012 – particularly the final quarter, where rewarding movies like Rise of the Guardians, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania and <9>Wreck-It Ralph packed audiences into movie theaters. This year, however, it has been Escape from Planet Earth and … well, that’s basically it. But all that is about to change. A number of interesting animated movies are coming up, from the prehistoric family comedy The Croods to Epic, which just shared an international trailer. Peep it right here:
Blue Sky are the animation wizards behind the Ice Age series and Rio. They’re taking audiences on a miniaturized adventure with The Leaf Men, protectors of a forest who must rise up to help a teenage girl (Amanda Seyfried) who gets shrunk and pulled into an ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil. You know, normal everyday stuff.
Epic director Chris Wedge got his start on Ice Age (where he actually voices Scrat) and helmed the wildly underrated Robots. The sets this entire story in a small – but important – part of a forest, where our heroes must work hard to prevent chaos from spilling into our own world. The animation looks fantastic, and the movement in some of the trailer’s sequences should pop in 3D.
In addition to Seyfried, the vocal cast for Epic includes Colin Farrell, Jason Sudeikis, Beyonce Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Aziz Ansari, Oscar winner Christoph Waltz and rocker Steven Tyler. So yeah, pretty eclectic. The trailer sells me on Epic. It opens in theaters on May 24. Are you in?
