After years of bewildering popularity and success, it seems
like Blue Sky Studios has finally found their own lane in the modern animation
market. Yeah, I easily would’ve just assumed that their raison d’etre was being
entirely disposable, between the weak Ice Age films to the downright dreadful
Rio films, but between this and their last feature Ferdinand, they seem to have
found their niche that doesn’t involve boring the audience into a collective
coma. If Disney is the standard, Dreamworks the alternative, Laika the retro
haven and Illumination the home of all things villainous, then Blue Sky is the
place to go for family-friendly treatises on pacifism.
A spy caper that both celebrates the coolness of the genre
and question its true efficacy in real-world logistics, the visuals find Blue
Sky at a new peak of efficiency. The distorted body proportions find a solid
groove for the cartoonish sci-fi slapstick that makes up the bulk of the
action, and the action scenes themselves show some quite vibrant creativity,
even seeing the studio step into simulated long-take territory. They seem to be
proud of their work to show it off in this fashion, and they have plenty of
reason to think that because this is some of their best to date.
Same goes for the voice cast, with Will Smith’s lead
gentleman spy Lance making for a phenomenally refreshing return to his
trademark cool after his double feature from Hell last year. The one-liners,
the reactions to the kid-friendly body horror on display, the chemistry with Tom
Holland’s idealistic tinkerer Walter; it all works and makes for a fun central
performance. As for Holland himself, as I’ll get into in a bit, I think he’s
found an even more likeable hero to play than Spider-Man.
Outside of the main two, everyone else fits in quite nicely:
Ben Mendelsohn as the villain gets bonus mileage out of him keeping his natural
accent, same with Karen Gillan as one of the spy agency specialists, Rashida
Jones as the internal affairs agent might add to the unwieldy stereotype that role
plays in stories like this but still holds up, and DJ Khaled as the other
specialist… yeah, small role, but again, he works with it very nicely.
And while I’m on the sonic side of things, hot damn, this
soundtrack is a winner. Theodore Shapiro’s take on spy-jazz caper music is
sweet and bombastic, adding a lot of punch to the shootier moments, but it’s
with Mark Ronson’s contributions as the film’s executive music producer that
yield the greatest results. While his personal contributions like Freak Of Nature
with Dodgr and Then There Were Two with Anderson Paak are quite fun, hearing DJ
Shadow teaming up with De La Soul for Lance’s signature song Rocket Fuel is so
Dude-damn joyous, it immediately got me on side with this whole thing. To say
nothing of Lil Jon’s They Gotta Go, which finds his unique levels of energy
making a perfect fit for easily one of the glitteriest ending fight scenes I’ve
seen in a while.
But all of that is presentation; quite nice on its own, but
not exactly explaining why I see this as Blue Sky finally finding a likable
niche to work with. No, that comes with how this is basically the same ‘might
doesn’t make right’ mantra as Ferdinand, transplanted into a film with far less
teething problems and a lot more entertainment consistency. With how Walter’s
main intention of wanting a less-violent way to save the day plays into his
dynamic with Lance, it presents ‘the better way’ with enough real-world clarity
to stop it from being too cloying.
It gives Walter, Lance and even Mendelsohn’s Killian
grounded reasons for having their respective worldviews, whether it’s revenge
for personal injury or a want to spare others from a harsh fate. And from that,
the film’s more peaceful message lands on solid ground, and as someone who
truly appreciates this kind of morality on the big screen, it definitely warmed
my heart in a very real way.
Only time will tell if this truly becomes Blue Sky’s calling
card, but considering this and Ferdinand have made for two of the studio’s best
efforts to date, I hope they realise what a good thing they’ve got on their
hands because I could sure use more movies like this out there. It’s funny,
it’s well-acted, the visuals and soundtrack are incredibly enjoyable, and it
refines their past attempt at pacifist messaging with a look at how, when one
has the choice to take the peaceful route, that choice can seem like the
hardest one to make but it’s still one that could make the world a better
place. Idealistic? Sure. But it’s not as if I have much room to argue, as a pacifist
myself.
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