Abominable
- A heartwarming, uplifting, magical feel-good adventure that will pluck the heartstrings of anyone with a pulse.
Full Disclosure: I absolutely love the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. I was a late comer to the series, but I binged the first two shortly before the third was released. It showed me that Dreamworks Animation was back on top of its game after a few lackluster efforts (namely Trolls and The Boss Baby). When I saw the trailer for their latest feature, Abominable, I immediately started looking forward to it.
Review
It’s an age-old story, but one worth retelling. A gentle creature, deemed monstrous by a jaded society, finds love and companionship in the heart of a child. It’s The Iron Giant. It’s Lilo & Stitch. It’s E.T. Rather than a robot or a being from outer space though, the creature in Abominable is the fabled Yeti, long rumored to dwell in the mighty Himalayas. Of course, the Yeti is on the run. He’s recently escaped the clutches of Mr. Burnish (Eddie Izzard), a nefarious businessman who wants to exploit his discovery for monetary gain. The Yeti is wounded during his escape. Scared, injured, and out of his element in the big city of Shanghai, the Yeti seeks refuge on the roof of an apartment building.
Who would wanna hurt this little guy? He’s so friggin’ cute!
Enter Yi (Chloe Bennet), a brooding, angsty teenage girl (redundant, I know.) She lives with her mother and grandmother, but never spends quality time with them. Her emotional detachment isn’t solely the result of surging hormones though. She’s dealing with the fairly recent death of her beloved father, a classical violinist. Yi and her father shared a passion for music. They also had grand plans to travel across China. Unbeknownst to her family, Yi is working several jobs in an effort to save enough money to fulfill these plans in her late father’s name. In her rare moments of free time, Yi steals away to the rooftop of her apartment to play her father’s violin. It’s her way of keeping his memory alive.
As fate would have it, the Yeti is occupying the same rooftop. What follows is wholly predictable, yet no less touching than similar stories that have come before it. Yi and the Yeti are scared of each other at first, but they soon form an unbreakable bond. She nurses his wounds and feeds him her grandmother’s dumplings, which he eagerly devours. She names him Everest, after the mountain that he calls home. Despite his size, it turns out that Everest is just a baby who wants to get back to his family. With help from two of her friends, Yi takes Everest on an epic quest to get him safely to the world’s highest peak, all the while avoiding the clutches of Mr. Burnish and his cronies.
Spoilers Ahead
The bond that Yi and Everest grow to share is as poignant and emotionally stirring as anything you’ll see this year.
I’m emotionally secure enough to freely admit that I cried multiple times while watching Abominable. The animation was flawless, the vistas were spellbinding, and the music was enrapturing. Even if the story was predictable from the first scene to the closing credits, sometimes that’s a good thing. It’s comforting. Sometimes I just want to walk in to a theater knowing what I’m going to get; to shed my cynicism and embrace a familiar tale. I knew from the onset that a teenage girl would grow to love a mythical beast, that they would go on harrowing adventures, and against all odds, that they'd prevail, only to bittersweetly part in the end. That’s exactly what happens, but I was still in tears when the inevitable goodbye came.
Despite not being able to speak, Everest has personality in spades. He’s also cute as hell. It’s as if he’s part dog, part stuffed animal, and part playful, innocent little kid. It’s just an added bonus that he has seemingly limitless magical powers, but only when he’s happy. Yi brings the magic out of him, and vice versa. Yi is the perfect companion for Everest’s journey home. She’s strong, willful, independent, and kind-hearted. It’s impossible not to root for them. In the end, though, they couldn’t stay together. Everest belongs with his mom and dad. Yi belongs with her mother and grandmother. It’s E.T. going home all over again. The thing is, I’d much rather hang with a giant fluffy magic Yeti than a hairless bug-eyed magic alien, but that’s just me.
Abominable is a movie full of touching and beautiful moments.
5 Quick Hits
Abominable has a villain problem. While the twist that Mr. Burnish actually has a heart was something new, it seemed lazy that Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson), turned heel so suddenly. The villains existed solely to spark the heroes’ journey.
The classical violin music played by Yi was incredible. It was so moving, especially when imbued with Everest’s magic. Everest’s deep, soothing humming in harmony with Yi’s playing was what truly set this movie apart from standard, run-of-the-mill animated fare.
Yi’s two friends, the arrogant and selfish Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and the lovable, naive Peng (Albert Tsai) compliment the story perfectly. While Peng is on board with helping Everest right away, Jin has a nice character arc where he becomes a more well-rounded and nicer person.
The originality of this movie lies in its setting. It takes place in China, and stars mostly Chinese characters. (It’s unclear wether Everest identifies himself as Nepalese or Chinese, but that’s beside the point.) It’s the second film I’ve seen in the last few months that features a Nai-Nai (Chinese for paternal grandmother) as a prominent character (the other being The Farewell). It’s nice to see an animated movie portray a foreign culture without lazily reverting to stereotypes.
Of course, an American-made movie depicting Chinese culture is seldom received without controversy. There’s a shot in Abominable featuring a map that shows the Nine-Dash Line. This line covers disputed lands between China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Rather than upset the cash cow that is the Chinese moviegoing audience, Universal left the scene unchanged. Thus, Abominable was banned in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Can’t we just focus on how lovable and cuddly the magic Yeti is and forget about politics for 90 minutes? Guess not.
