First Impressions: Abominable (2019)

A while ago, this was back in August if my Letterboxd is accurate, I watched a direct-to-video animated movie called "Legend of the Secret Pass". I thought that movie had a good premise, but was wasted on bland or annoying characters and sub-par animation, which did the scenes that tried to look beautiful zero favors. I mention this because, Abominable is kind of the opposite, it is a decent premise, but had wonderful characters with their own arcs and a beautiful art style and animation.

While there was some to enjoy in The Legend of the Secret Pass, I did not recommend it, but I do feel like this is kind of the movie it could have been with a better budget.

Each of the characters were interesting in their own way, and none of them ever got annoying. There is one character that is very childlike and energetic, but he never gets annoying. One character is super popular and "with it" and all of the stuff that personally makes me cringe, and he never gets annoying. I think each of the characters balance each other out, as well as the environments they go through.

While I do say that the animation is not the be all and end all of a movie, a movie like Abominable really does show why having good art and animation is, while not entirely important, is highly beneficial. Going back to the Legend of the Secret Pass movie, when it had a scene that should have looked beautiful, I could admire the ambition, but find myself thinking about what the scene would look like had a couple thousand more dollars been tossed its way. With Abominable, there is a particularly gorgeous scene that is also a deep emotional moment for the lead character. The beautiful colour, lighting, and camera movement all enhance the scene, where a movie that wouldn't have the budget or had people that did not understand the importance of these elements, would have the scene be hindered by them.

I think this movie really is a good example of what animation can do when your making a less cartoonish work. Animation is a lot more like cinema than a lot of people would think. It is not just the art of the drawings or modelings that make it beautiful, much like it is not the thousands of pictures taken for a live-action film is not what makes it engaging. In both mediums, it is the use of lighting, colour, performance, cinematography, choreography, music and writing that brings it to life.

I am unsure if this movie is going to rank as my favourite animated movie of the year, but I know it will rank high. Maybe not as high as Toy Story 4 or How to Train Your Dragon 3, but I definitely enjoyed it more than The Lego Movie 2. I also recommend this movie because I would love to see more from this studio, but I've heard this movie made back it's budget, so, I just hope it can make twice it's budget back.