#TIFF19: “ABOMINABLE”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

A Yeti has escaped from a secret lab and is hiding on a rooftop in Shanghai. One evening, he encounters Yi (Chloe Bennet), a young girl trying desperately to make enough money to go on the vacations her dad always promised her they would take. When it becomes clear that the Yeti is in trouble, Yi and two friends set out on an adventure to bring him home to Mount Everest.

In a year of stellar animated films, Abominable stands out as one of the best. It tells a predictable story, but does so in a way that is heartwarming, charming and genuinely moving. The animation is splendid and the imagination on display here is magical, both figuratively and literally. It has the familiar goofy beats that kids will eat up, but still manages to be really funny for adults as well. It goes surprisingly deeper than most animated films with its focus on family and cultural elements (a major portion of the delightful Cast is voiced by Asian-Americans), and feels all the stronger for it. There are some darker ideas at play in Abominable that I wish were explored better, but the Film seems to deliberately pivot away from them just as quickly as they are introduced. Nonetheless, I was smiling and laughing (and yes, crying) the entire time.

ABOMINABLE screens during TIFF at the following times:

Saturday September 7, 3:00pm @ Roy Thomson Hall [World Premiere]
Sunday September 8, 10:30am @ Winter Garden Theatre
Saturday September 14, 12:00pm @ Scotiabank Theatre