You know a film’s marketing is bad when it manages to turn
off potential audiences three years before they even get a chance to see
it.
Not sure what to comment on first with this: The implication
of ‘fat = no longer beautiful’ (which is likely making Peter Paul Rubens spin
in his grave like a Chinese cracker wheel), or how the people who threw this
together apparently knew nothing about the film being advertised, since
that implication is actually part of the film’s narrative. Namely, how
figuratively and literally surface-level that kind of judgment is.
Yep, it’s another 'We wish we were Shrek' subversive fairy tale about how people aren’t always as they appear, although thankfully, this is
leagues improved from the last time we saw this with Charming. For a
start, the animation itself is pretty damn good, especially coming from a
non-Hollywood studio. It may take quite a few artistic cues from both Disney
and Dreamworks, but it manages to make up for the cribbing with plenty of its
own charm. The character designs are solid, the action scenes are fun, and it’s
kind of impossible for me to argue against a re-imagining of Pinocchio as a
trio of mechanics (named Pino, Noki, and Kio) in a giant wooden attack-robot.
And speaking of re-imaginings of the old guard of fairy
tales, while definitely retaining the same basic message of Shrek, it manages
to balance that out with enough of its own identity to make that similarity a
non-issue before too long. Pairing up Snow White (or Red Shoes, thanks to magic
footwear), and seven princes who have been turned into trolls (in a bizarre
case of magic resembling quantum physics with how they change when being observed),
ends up echoing some of the ickyness of these kind of ‘true love’s kiss’
curses, but credit to the writing and the actors for working with it this well.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Red Shoes may be a bit flat, but when
she’s called on to emote, she delivers more times than not, and when paired
with Sam Claflin as the cursed Merlin (incidentally one of the princes,
alongside Simon Kassianides as Arthur), the romantic subplot turns out rather
sweet, using both visual and aural character building to show the ‘inner self’
idea with a reasonable degree of panache. It treats that core idea, oddly
enough, with a fainter touch than Shrek ever did, making the fact that this is
a familiar story settle down in the face of quite surprising presentation.
Honestly, it’s that very presentation that kinda makes me
want to recommend this. It’s got animation chops that can stand proudly
alongside Western studios, making the South-Korea-based Locus Creative Studios
a company worth keeping an eye out for in future, some of the better lip-sync
I’ve seen from a smaller studio, and an approach to anti-superficiality and
body positivity that, to be brutally honest, makes peak-Amy Schumer look like
Married With Children. It may not seem like much to most other people, but
after years of dealing with sub-par third-party animated family films, I feel I
have a certain right to cherish this thing.
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