260, Epic

Half Term animated joy this year comes in the form of Epic.  A well casted story telling the tale of a world in miniature, playing out battles between good and evil all throughout the forest.  Almost invisible to the human eye, it takes the belief of one man, Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis) to devote his life to finding these mystical beings, albeit losing his wife and daughter in the process, but when Bomba's daugher, MK (Amanda Seyfried) comes to visit and gets magically shrunken into the world of the Leaf Men its the belief of her father and the determination of MK to get back home that ensure a happy ending for all.

The 3D animation in this is by no means poor - the depth of field and the feel of the forest really make you believe you could fly on Humming birds or hide out in worm holes but its the high calibre of voices for me that stand this movie out above others.

Beyoncé, Colin Farrell, Chris O'Dowd, Seyfried and Sudeikis (already mentioned) as well as Steven Tyler, Pitbull. Josh Hutcherson and the brilliant Christoph Waltz make up the A-list of names gathered for this latest animated extravaganza and you will have fun playing the 'guess who' game as each character presents itself.

The story itself - well, that was the dull bit.  Saving the forest from Mandrake (Waltz), hell bent on turning the lush greenness into darkness and rot, its down to the army of Leaf Men, led by Ronin (Farrell) and his unwilling soldier of a son, Nod (Hutchinson) to bring them down all under the watchful guidance of Queen Tara (Beyoncé) and with the help of new forest recruit MK (Seyfried).

The jokes in this come thick and fast from Grub & Mub - the Snail & Slug combo seen in the trailers who's job it is too keep the newly blessed bud and future saviour of the forest moist and safe.  These two unknowing heroes get all the one liners, see a slice of the action and manage to wind the bad guys up with light hearted quips and comedic put downs.

There's not much else to say - the animation is every bit as good as anything else - if not better than what's out there currently, the expected happy ending is nothing new but it's the cast make this a definite one to watch - for the kids obviously!