[7][8] Produced by Blue Sky Studios in association with 20th Century Fox Animation, it was directed by Chris Wedge from a screenplay written by Joyce, James V. Hart, Daniel Shere, and the writing team of Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, based on a story conceived by Joyce, Hart, and Wedge.
It stars the voices of Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O'Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, and Beyoncé Knowles.
In the film, after teenager Mary Katherine gets shrunk and teleported to a tiny woodland kingdom inhabited by talking slugs, flower people and tiny soldiers called Leafmen, she is swept up in a wild adventure between good and evil and, alongside her new friends, must fight to protect the world she never knew existed.
Epic was internationally released on May 16, 2013, and in the United States on May 24, by 20th Century Fox, following in its premiere on Ziegfeld Theatre on May 18.
Bomba spent his life researching the Leafmen, tiny humanoid soldiers who protect the neighboring forest from wicked creatures called Boggans.
The forest's benevolent ruler, Queen Tara, must choose her successor and arrives at a pool of lily pods, occupied by Mub, a laid-back slug and Grub, a wannabe Leafman snail.
encounters the falling Tara, who entrusts the pod to her, shrinks her with magic, and tells her to take it to Nim Galuu, a glowworm wizard, before finally dying.
Ronin, Nod, M.K., Mub, and Grub meet Nim Galuu, who informs them that the pod must bloom that night, while exposed to the light of the full moon.
reunites with Bomba and later becomes his assistant; the two of them remain in contact with their small friends as they continue the research of their world.
[8] In May 2012, Fox announced the final title for the film (Epic), its first cast details, and a plot.
[18] Although the film is based on and borrows many characters from Joyce's book, its plot has been significantly changed.
Wedge explained: "[W]hile Bill wrote a wonderful book, it is a quaint story.
[19][20] On January 29, 2021, Epic was made available to Disney+ subscribers, following The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of both 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios in 2019, but it later got removed from the service on May 1, 2021 due to pre-existing contracts.
The website's consensus reads: "Though its narrative themes are all too familiar, Epic is beautifully animated and crafted with just enough flair to make for solid family entertainment.
[31] Stephan Lee of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, saying "The story lacks the specialness of a Pixar movie—it retreads the same eco-battle archetypes as FernGully and Avatar—but it's a perfectly appealing explosion of color for a lazy summer day.
"[32] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, saying "Where the animated film comes up short is on the inspiration front—despite the intriguing terrain, its stock inhabitants lack the sort of unique personality traits that would prevent them from feeling overly familiar.
"[33] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars, saying "It's difficult to keep its story and characters, or even its visual design, in your mind's eye, in part because the five credited screenwriters overload the narrative with incident and threatening complication.
"[34] Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "The story's simple enough to appeal to young kids (the 8-year-old with me pronounced the movie "awesome"), but adults will enjoy the beautiful animation, whether 3D or 2D.
"[35] Stephen Holden of The New York Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying "As beautiful as it is, Epic is fatally lacking in visceral momentum and dramatic edge.
[51][52] This was the first time that a film produced by Blue Sky Studios had not been scored by John Powell since the first Ice Age installment in 2002, which was composed by David Newman.