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There’s no way I could pass up watching an Aardman feature in theaters because of their simplistic but beautiful animation style, but even considering that Nick Park hasn’t directed a feature film of his own since giving Wallace and Gromit their own, I could only hope that Aardman was rising properly after the long string of mediocre films that had come out after Flushed Away (excluding Shaun the Sheep of course). I ask myself, was Early Man the film Aardman had been waiting to release? There is some hope in claiming that Early Man’s value is not the stand-alone reason for Aardman’s resurrection, which would have sufficed. But alas, Aardman’s films never cease to surprise us, the lows Early Man set in standards relative to Aardman’s other films are not appealing.
Eddie Redmayne plays Dug, a Stone Age caveman who glances at Lord Nooth of the Bronze Age and realizes his time as a human is coming to an end. Tom Hiddleston voices Lord Nooth, the mischief god himself. Dug sees what the Bronze Age has to offer for his tribe’s valley and makes a wager with Lord North. He sets up a challenge with his Bronze Age team and plays football to try and win the valley. The concept of narrating a story about the shift between ages would alone have been interesting but this film shows where it goes from the moment the plot introduces football. From that point, this idea starts to lose its creative edge.
Just like Aardman, this film is animated beautifully, but for some reason, it feels so lackluster for a film directed by Nick Park. In contrast, Aardman’s wit and humor have always been visual and slapstick, which doesn’t seem to work for Early Man. The football storyline simply does not permit it. But that’s the one thing about Early Man that always irritated me, as sports could have been incorporated into the story Where the whole idea revolves around the discovery of football, which is briefly depicted in the opening of the film. However, having that be the main driving force is so unsettling when you already have another idea that revolves around something completely different.
Eddie Redmayne and Maisie Williams genuinely seem to enjoy their roles as a voice cast. However, some voices do not entirely fit the characters. For instance, Timothy Spall as Chief Bonbar and Richard Ayode as the squeamish Treebor. Both are amiable and pleasant for one to see in an animated movie, but their characters are so poorly constructed that they utterly lack character. Tom Hiddleston makes for an entertaining villain as Lord Nooth, but even his character is rather forgettable.
Even though Early Man has some innovative concepts, they seem to be neglected in favor of a sports story which is uninspired at best. Regardless, this is a slight improvement over Aardman’s previous failures given that Nick Park is behind the camera. It’s disappointing knowing all that Aardman could have been because Early Man appears to lack ambition. For now, it will be entertaining because it has some of Aardman’s charm, but it won’t be enough to make a lasting impression.
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