Friday, February 23, 2018

"Early Man"



I've been a big fan of Nick Park since I first saw his amazing short "Creature Comforts" in Annecy, way back in 1989.  He's such a nice guy, very modest - but what a terrific talent!

He now has a new feature film produced by Aardman Studios - and I went to see it last night.  It's a pure Nick Park film, in terms of style, design and humor. 

But one of the problems with the film is that it's about soccer (called football in the rest of the world) and even though that's a popular sport in the U.S., it's not as popular as the other U.S. sports.  However, soccer (football) has a massive audience worldwide. 

Also, it just wasn't as funny as all of his other films, like "Chicken Run" or "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit".  The script is clever and has a great message, but the audience I was with seemed very subdued. 

To me, Nick Park is a singular genius in animation, so I was a bit disappointed that the film wasn't a laugh riot.  However, not to worry, the film should do well everywhere else. 

I give it a "B".

Bill Plympton

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