Movie Review - Abominable (2019)

It wasn't that long ago that Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) was being criticized as being an animated feature that was utilizing Asian characters and Asian settings, yet the main cast of voice actors weren't Asian. Those criticisms were part of a wave about yellow-face or whitewashing in Hollywood that got a huge backlash that built up into a tsunami over the past five years or so. It's why it's significant that this animated feature that also utilizes Asian characters and Asian settings doesn't have yellow-face or whitewash things. The cast of voice actors here are actually Asian or of Asian heritage.

Pixar Animation has done a good job of telling stories that center on people of color, even while that tsunami of criticism was occurring. The most relevant was Bao (2018), the Oscar-nominated short film Pixar released that was about a Chinese mother and a piece of dumpling that comes to life. That short could be deemed a kind of precursor to this feature. Bao was about motherhood and a woman learning to let go of her child, as it grows up. This film, produced by DreamWorks Animation, is instead about a child looking for a father or looking for a connection to a father but learning to let go of him in several ways too. There's a bit of kinship to Coco (2017) in that regard as well.

Another precursor could also be Smallfoot (2018), the animated feature from last year about a talking yeti living deep in the Himalayas. That film doesn't have the kind of Asian representation that this film does but the story and themes of Smallfoot were more interesting and more engaging. Smallfoot commented upon themes and issues, such as religion and politics. This film, written and co-directed by Jill Culton, is more simplistic as its themes are that of family and friendship.

I suppose one could compare this thematically to the Laika film, Missing Link (2019), which was about a talking Sasquatch, a mythical creature that is akin to a yeti. Yet, Missing Link was about man and nature, specifically man's relationship with nature and whether that relationship is one of domination or one of compatriotism. Culton's film embraces the same animal and place as Smallfoot, but the issues therein makes it more related to Missing Link.

Chloe Bennet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) stars as the voice of Yi, a Chinese girl living in Beijing with her mother and grandmother. Her mother is presumably widowed, meaning Yi's father is dead. She misses him of course. Her father seemed like he was a musician and his most prized possession is his violin, which Yi keeps and plays on the roof of her apartment building. Her father also was a traveler who probably did so because he was a musician. As a result, Yi wants to also travel, so she does odd jobs around the city in order to earn enough to see the world as her dad did or wanted to do. She's hard-working. She's dedicated and she's quite adventurous.

Her plans change when she discovers a magical yeti that is hiding on her roof in a makeshift fort. Yi names the yeti "Everest." The yeti doesn't talk like in Smallfoot or Missing Link. It behaves more like a big puppy dog. It does recognize that the Himalayas are its home and that it wants to go back there. Yi takes it upon herself to return Everest to his home. They're chased all the way by a greedy man who wants to profit off the animal. The chase and journey are fun and funny, bright and colorful. The whole thing isn't boring. The animation all along is beautiful, as it basically documents all the amazing landscapes through China. It's also cute in many of its sequences whether its depiction of a tiny gerbil, a large Buddha statue or fish-shaped clouds. It's lovely to behold. I was also taken with the end credits song, "What a Beautiful Life."

Rated PG for some action and mild rude humor.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 37 mins.