“There’s a Yeti on my roof,” says Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet) out loud to herself after discovering a young Abominable snowman in the family-friendly animated film, Abominable.
Yi’s a teenage girl living in Shanghai with her mother and grandmother, working as many odd jobs as she can to save up for a trip. The trip’s special to the young girl as it’s one she and her deceased dad had always planned on taking one day. After discovering the Yeti on her apartment building roof, Yi along with her friends, Jin (voiced by Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Peng (voiced by Albert Tsai) – sets out on an epic journey to try to get the young Yeti back home with his family.
The three teens quickly discover they’re being hunted by an incredibly wealthy financier named Burnish (voiced by Eddie Izzard) and a determined zoologist, Dr. Zara (voiced by Sarah Paulson), who want to capture the Yeti for their own financial gain…dead or alive.
Colorful yet uninteresting and predictable, Abominable is a breezy and cute adventure which should entertain young children but has nothing to offer teenagers and adults. The animation is bright but not visually impressive, and the film’s attempts at any heartfelt scenes kept missing their mark. Sadly, these scenes come off feeling forced and hollow.
The film’s lead voice actor Chloe Bennet sounds way too old to be voicing Yi, a young teenager, and it shows. Albert Tsai does do a great job bringing to life young Peng, who quickly becomes buddies with the Yeti and is the most humorous character on the screen.
This first collaboration between DreamWorks and China’s Pearl Studio fails to introduce anything new or original and is a mediocre adventure at best.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG for some action and mild rude humor
Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes
Release Date: September 27, 2019
Directed By: Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman
