Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon. Then again, maybe the computer animated feature Abominable just isn't very good. Yeah, this DreamWorks and China's Pearl Studio co-production is geared towards kids and isn't made for me, but I love the DreamWorks produced How to Train Your Dragon movies. For me, Abominable has uninteresting characters and a flat story despite potential in the inclusion of Asian mysticism.
A Yeti from the Himalayas (voice of Joseph Izzo) breaks out of a secret laboratory and finds himself in the middle of the bustling metropolis of Shanghai. He is soon befriended by Yi (Chloe Bennet), a teenage girl who dreams of travel. With the help of her uptight friend Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and chubby, basketball playing neighbor Peng (Albert Tsai), Yi decides to get the Yeti back to his home on Mount Everest. With that, Yi names the Yeti Everest.
It's clear that the makers of Abominable plan on selling lots of Everest toys because the character looks like a plush toy - literally. Yes, his CGI face has the appearance of soft fabric. Too bad he is not a lovable or engaging character. But he is a magical Yeti, meaning he has inconsistent magic powers like making blueberries huge, or creating tornadoes for travel, or being able to photoshop pictures, or whatever magic trick the screenplay needs for a shortcut.
Yi is the only interesting character here, but the movie seems to focus on everyone else. As for the animation, it's colorful and pretty but nothing that is eye-popping. Without a good story, though, who cares?
