Early Man (2018)

Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Early Man is a good stop motion animated Aardman film in long time since Shaun the Sheep Movie. Yes the film lead it from a caveman vs gladiator movie to a sports soccer film and that the story is rather predictable to what will happen, but with it's funny humor from the Wallace & Gromet shorts, likable characters, enjoyable charm and some good Aardman stop motion animation, it manage to be a good Aardman film that is worth watch for not only for stop motion fans, but both Aardman and Wallace & Gromet fans as well, since this marks the return of the creator of the duo, Nick Park. I gave this long time Aardman film a 8/10 rating for being a good stop motion film in recent years.

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our local public library system.One of our favorites of this genre is "Chicken Run", the claymation is always good but that movie also has a superb story.In "Early Man" the story is more straightforward. It is a clash of stone age men vs bronze age men. An ancient meteorite created a huge crater near Manchester, England, and the center of it contained what appeared to be a soccer ball, when they began kicking it soccer (or football) was invented by these cavemen.In time the big crater grew lush vegetation and the stone age men thrived, until one day a strange group invaded with modern weapons, with bronze tipped spears and other bronze items, driving the stone age people out. Eventually one of them, Dug, bargained that if they could defeat their soccer (football) team then the bronze age guy would give their land back. If they lost they would be banished to a lifetime working in the mines.So the climax of the whole story is the soccer (football) match. I also viewed the extras on the DVD and one can't help be impressed with the massive effort that went into making this movie, the sets, the number of technicians and animators. Truly a first-rate effort and it turned out great. I just wish the story itself had been a better one, it just didn't strike an overwhelming chord with me.

It's a long time since I've walked out on a film in mid flow - and sadly this was one of them. I had no idea of the football theme (which didn't particularly interest me) but the humour wasn't clever and not a patch on the other Ardman features which were excellent. A shame Nick Park could get this so wrong when his TV shorts were brimming with superbly-observed animation.

5/23/18. I love stop-motion animated movies. When you watch these types of movies you really have to develop an appreciation for how much work goes into making these kinds of movies - hours and hours of posing and filming miniature creations till you get that fuildy movement that makes it to the big screen. Enjoy this for the creativity. The plot was simple, so be a kid for 89 minutes.