The 2018 Animation Contenders: Early Man
Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 10:24AM Every Saturday this month, Tim will be taking a look at one of the films submitted for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
So as to avoid burying the lede, let me make it clear that Early Man is a pretty disposable little snip of a thing. One doesn't want to take anything made by Britain's Aardman Animations for granted: the financial state of stop-motion animation is none too strong, and it's a bit of a triumph anytime one of these features gets made and released. Nonetheless, by any standards, and particularly the very high bar Aaardman has set for itself with its beloved Wallace & Gromit shorts, Early Man is pretty low-key. The humor tends towards punny dad jokes, and the film never pretends to be anything else besides corny and silly fun.
That being said, silliness isn't a problem in and of itself. And what we get in Early Man is more adorable than anything else...