When Disney is one of my favourite studios, a new animated release will always get my bum in a seat at a cinema.
But the marketing for this has been odd by Disney's standards. It wasn't until the very end of its campaign where we got a better picture of what to expect. Before that, it was only really the hardcore Disney followers that knew this was coming. It almost felt as if the studio didn't know what to sell this film.
After seeing it, I can kind of see why.
The first two-thirds of the film are full so many story aspects that Disney can create in their sleep. It plods along and with the amazing visuals keeping me interested, it thankfully still gave some entertainment.
I didn't feel get into the film until the final act. This is where I felt the fun really arrives, and the story has an interesting twist that could've easily been the actual concept rather than a reveal. It's kind of the same feeling I had with Pixar's 'Onward'. The potential is there. But it never dared itself to fully explore its own creation.
But I was enjoying the old school adventure vibe to it and the landscape and creature designs felt like something Jules Verne would have made if he was around today as a filmmaker.
The voice acting is pretty solid all-round. Dennis Quaid makes great use of his range, it's always nice hearing Jake Gyllenhaal, the casting choice of masterful voice actor Allan Tudyk was well utilised and it was also great hearing Lucy Liu's voice.
As mentioned, the visual effects are the films biggest strength. It deserves plaudits and it would be to see animated to recognition in the 'Best Visual Effects' category. While the score isn't exceptional, it fits the tone of the genre nicely.
So while I don't feel it made of the most of its ideas, I still enjoyed enough of it to make it a decent watch.
It's most definitely a visual spectacular and the visual effects team should proud of what they have given to us on screen. If it wasn't for them, the whole experience would have been instantly forgettable. A lot of this felt generic and played to certain tropes and themes you have seen countless times in previous Disney animations. Particularly the script and the characters.
It did win me over in the end as there is a fun vibe and I like the old school adventure vibe to it similar to that of Indiana Jones or any Jules Verne classic. But all of it is done to a required level and gives nothing exceptional to make it stand out from the crowd.
It's miles behind the studio's best works. But it is also far from its worst. It's passable for me. However, I can see other fans not being as lenient. I hope this isn't the beginning of a series of middle-of-the-road releases as I've felt some of the studios recent animated releases have been saved by its songs. As this one isn't a musical, it's going to get forgotten quickly I feel.
Rating: 7/10
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