Early Man is a British stop motion animated film directed by Nick Park. The plot follows a group of stone age people as they are challenged by a bronze age civilisation to a game of football to decide the fate of their valley home.
I will admit I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Aardman and their animations, I really didn’t like Chicken Run and I enjoyed Wallace and Gromit when I was young, but I have not thought about those films in years. So, going into this I had low expectations that were lowered even further when I heard the mixed reviews, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this film.
I enjoyed the story quite a bit and found that the time period leant itself quite well to Aardman’s signature animation style. I thought the characters all had a great deal of rootability, and you really wanted to see them win the game. This film manages to capture the plucky underdog spirit to a tee.
The voice cast didn’t add much to proceedings as I feel like anyone could have played those characters, the voice actors themselves were not memorable, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your viewpoint. Out of the cast I thought Maisie Williams shone the most, her character of Goona was fun and memorable and Williams managed to pull of an accent for the full run time somewhat convincing; much more convincingly then her GOT co-star Sophie Turner in the last X-Men film, however.
Overall, a fun film that really made me consider Aardman that bit more, maybe it has converted me to their cause- time will tell.
Pros.
Fun and accessible
The setting leant itself well to stop motion
Maisie Williams
Capturing the underdog spirit
Cons.
The voice cast weren’t very strong
It felt a bit bloated
3/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 