Epic

When you're vying for a slice of the kiddie-dominated box office and your competition is a couple of sequels/prequels with established (and popular) characters, having a moniker as suggestive as Epic is a great way to improve brand awareness. The downside is you instantly set the expectations level quite high, and anything less than, erm, epic, seems like a missed opportunity. Beautifully designed and action-packed, this motion picture from the creators of the Ice Age franchise boasts impressive visuals and exciting set pieces – ultimately creating a tiny forest world that is endlessly inventive and always fun to watch – yet struggles to make an impact where it truly matters: with the story. This environmentally-focused tale is at times too morally forceful and employs blatant cop outs to wrap up its various strands of plot, whilst the main group of players are unoriginal and overly reliant on stereotypical characteristics. The voice cast – including Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler and Beyonce Knowles – are all fine without being memorable, with Christoph Waltz's irreprehensible villain and Aziz Ansari and Chris O'Dowd's crowd-pleasingly hilarious slug/snail combo proving to be the standouts. Epic is a solid family film and has enough to warrant a visit to the cinema during the school break, but sadly it never lives up to its title.