Teenager Yi (Chloe Bennet) works odd jobs to save for travel across China. One night, she finds a Yeti on the roof of her apartment building. It's a mythical creature from the Himalayas who escaped from obsessed collector Mr. Burnish (Eddie Izzard) and his underling Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson). Yi and her friends, Peng and cousin Jin, name the Yeti, Everest. They help Everest escape from Burnish back to its home on top of Mount Everest.

This animated movie is a co-production between DreamWorks and the Chinese Pearl Studio. It's one of the best marriage of west and east. It has the story telling styles of the west with its animation skills plus the story elements of the new China. Yi is a classic Disney heroine. Peng and Jin are classic sidekicks. The Yeti is basically E.T. It's a rock solid animated family film. I do have a few minor issues. Not in any order, the title is a bit clunky. Abominable is a mouthful. I always liked Yeti. Yeti is a fun word and it rolls off the tongue. Second, I didn't realize that Yi's home is Shanghai. I'm no expert but I do know a few landmarks. It's helpful to give a name to her home and the start of the movie. It helps to ground the movie in more solid footing. Next, Everest's powers are nebulous. I like the explanation that he talks to nature but it is so vast that he seems to be able to do anything which makes one wonder why he doesn't do everything right from the start. My solution would be that he is too weak at the beginning due to the warmer weather. He does seem to grow his powers after getting out of Shanghai. Some of the explanation can be inferred but it would be better to be more specific. Finally, Burnish's redemption arc is a little problematic. He starts out too much like a supervillain. I think a greedy Ebenezer would work better for this character arc. Most of these are minor issues. The main takeaway is that this is a good movie.

Here we have "Abominable", one of the more talked-about animated films from 2019, but as it is not one of the big players by Pixar or Disney, it is probably still going a bit more under the radar. The writer and director here is Jill Culton, who has a long career in the industry. She worked as a story artist on the first two Toy Story movies over 20 years ago before being the original story writer for "Monsters, Inc." and another five years later, she was the one in charge of writing and directing "Open Season", another fairly well-known animated film. With follow-up work on this one when it comes to short films and a sequel, she still had a decent share of work, but still there was a surprisingly long gap between back then and now that she worked on this one here, over 10 years. But with the quality we got here, it is good she is back for this American/Chinese co-production. Now I am not sure which involvement surprises me more here. The characters are mostly Chinese, at least the good guys, the film takes place in China (not only for the Himalayas connection) and many voice actors are Chinese too. Still, there are Emmy winners Sarah Paulson and Eddie Izzard on board too, and also the nephew of Tenzing Norgay in one of the key roles, the sherpa who climbed up Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. Very fitting casting for sure given the film's plot. Said film's plot is about a young Chinese girl and her two friends who end up helping the (not so) Abominable Snowman to get back to his family at the Himalayas. This snowman was captured by a Western (of course) corporation who wants to present him to the world. But just briefly before they can, he manages to get out of his cell and find a way into the streets of the (unnamed) city. Okay there are some unrealistic factors here. I want to mention them at least, even if none of them are really negative deal breakers. The fact that there is the Abominable Snowman at the center of the film is alright, but really believing they let him out accidentally is something I struggle with. Also with the chaos he creates in the city, it is hard to believe that the police and press are simply not involved in this at all, no matter how big the corporation's money suitcases can be. And one specific scene about when the girl and the Abominable Snowman meet for the first time. She helps hide him by somewhat imprisoning him and it is after previous imprisonment difficult to believe the snowman deals with it so well the way he does when he accepts it and understands she is hiding him away from his suitors. Or also the initial villain's change in mind maybe wasn't the most realistic and as they still needed a villain, they gave that role to the woman who seemed so nice before that and we find out it was all just show. She cares about nothing but the money. By the way she looks like the evil grown-up version of the girl from Brave doesn't she? Actually, I can believe his transformation even easier as there was some progress in his thinking also with the tree he finds beautiful already, but is still at the point where pulling it out of the ground means nothing to him. But yeah, the revelation about her felt just for the sake of it really, like a bit of a poor man's version of the one from Zootopia or so. If the transformation of the boy who seems so posh and vain early on into an adventurer seems realistic, is something you need to decide subjectively. Or what to think of the mother and grandmother not doing anything at all apparently after the girl goes missing for quite a while. Or the idea that said girl is really managing to climb without proper equipment or training through one of the most dangerous areas of the planet. Sorry, but the explanation from her potential love interest that once she has set her mind on something, she won't give up till she succeeds is not enough there.

But now for the better aspects. First of all, it must be said, this is a really stunning film visually. Be it the lights of the city or all the utterly different kinds of beautiful landscapes China has to offer, they did nothing wrong here at all with the animation. The film is also entertaining. The character animation is just as good I would say and there isn't a single character in this slightly over 1.5-hour movie that looks shoddy or poorly animated. And it goes well together with the behavior of the characters that is also good enough for them to stay in the mind for long after the film is over. But back to the looks, there are two scenes that stay in the mind especially. The first would be the one when the trio (plus Abominable Snowman) leave the lights of the city. It was a bit haunting in a positive sense because the girl never left the city and it was something totally new to her. Well done, I felt her emotions. The second would be the more baity with the beautiful long scene of the three and the Yeti (that is what we call him here in Germany) on the feet of this really old rock statue. No need to go into detail, you know exactly which scene I mean in the second half of the film. Also kinda nice to see how he was used as a pillow with his soft fur. And they also brought something new to the Abominable Snowman general idea to the table that we have not seen in other films and there are sure many where he was used as part of the story. I am of course talking about his magic that he still isn't really capable of controlling as we found out during the pretty hilarious gigantic berry scene, but also later on near the snowy mountains when it is a fight for survival. I don't think this inclusion was really crucial or necessary, but I still liked it. I also thought the voice acting was good. I watched the German dub, so cannot say anything about the original, but we got some nice voice work here with very familiar-sounding voice actors for sure. The (initial) bad guy had the German voice of Tony Shalhoub in Monk and the central girl character's grandmother had another (to me) well-known voice that I did not manage to put a finger on though, maybe also because she does not have too much to say and vanishes completely once the journey really starts. I just said that there are several other Abominable Snowman movies and it is true. This is not even the only animated one from this year on this subject. I am talking about Warner Bros' "Smallfoot" of course. You can watch these two as a double feature for sure. Or you just skip the latter because honestly "Abominable" is pretty much superior in almost every department, especially the looks and behavior of the Yeti. (I also liked the Himalayas sign idea in the city early on.) Also the comedy. There are some pretty funny moments here. I mentioned the berry scene and the slow motion moments there already, but there is more, such as the granny talking about how her granddaughter should not be only as small as her daughter while she is really tiny herself, just one moment that stayed in the mind. Or several scenes involving the little chubby boy, even if he only sticks out of the Yeti's mouth with his lower body. That is already funny enough to watch as simple as it may be. There are at least a dozen other moments that will put a smile on your lips, even if it also needs to be said on a more negative note that there were many jokes and comedic inclusions that did come a bit short too, just like the one involving the head of security guy's fear that he could get fired and the "who tells Mr. Burnish" running gag got a bit dry quickly too. But then again, there are also these moments when the one character not only loses his coat, but also his pants and that was as brief as it was awkwardly funny, so I say well done again. Really nice attention to detail for those scenes that do nothing for the story. Sometimes the comedy is pretty American, sometimes not American at all, so you can also see the mix of countries involed with this move on this very occasion. I mean aside from the environmental message (and maybe that selfies are still evil),there is no great significance to the film except stories on friendship perhaps, but there doesn't need to be really. The film is definitely a success without these too and apart from that I really liked how they used the environmental message with making it seem significant, but not really constantly shoving it into our faces in the most self-important manner. It was rather Burnish's change in perception that made it obvious. I am a bit curious how this film will fare with awards bodies come awards season. Now it definitely won't be shut out at the Annies or so I'm sure despite its foreign involvement, but I wonder if it maybe can even get in at the Oscars too. I guess everything behind Toy Story 4 (and probably Frozen 2) seems really wide open at this point. But lets not talk about these two films that will get a gigantic deal of attention anyway and they surely deserve it, but stay with Abominable for now. This one gets a thumbs-up from me. A pretty delightful 95 minutes that deserve to be seen by adults and small ones alike. Don't miss out. Here we have another DreamWorks success, but not a triumph, and I probably have zero intention for a rewatch in the coming years, but if they ever make a sequel I'd watch.

A family movie with a Yeti ... a Yeti that at times is more human than some of the humans in the movie (the bad ones that is). But it still has nuance and it still has a story to tell - yes this is for the little ones, but it has many moments for grown ups as well.

It is predictable, but that shouldn't deter you or take anything away from the movie. Well animated and a story that is intriguing and anyone can relate to. Really well done for the whole family.