Family fare has seen a drought the past couple months since the massive summer runs of The Lion King, Toy Story 4 and Aladdin. This Friday, Dreamworks will lead an exciting pack of fall animated releases with Abominable. It tells the story of a hard-working girl named Yi who goes on an adventure across China with a yeti named Everest and her two long-time neighbors, Peng and Jin.
The epic, which is expected to win the weekend, has an impressive cast including Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Chloe Bennet, Dr. Ken’s Albert Tsai and Liv and Maddie’s Tenzing Norgay Trainor. CinemaBlend’s own Jeff McCobb recently sat down with the core cast to discuss the film’s core messages, check out what they had to say:
The film’s lead, Chloe Bennet, showed some passion for her character Yi and the film with her answer. In the interview, Bennet talked about Abominable’s themes of communication. The animated movie deals with some emotional circumstances, as Yi deals with the loss of her father and often brings out her emotions by playing beautiful songs on her violin. Bennet continued with the following:
It’s usually about finding your prince charming and that your worth is about what man that you find. In this film, for me your worth is about how comfortable you are with yourself and how comfortable you are expressing yourself fully authentically to the people you care about and love.
This isn’t a Disney princess film. Chloe Bennet also talked about how Yi is a character you don’t typically see on the big-screen and especially in a story geared for children. She’s discovering truths about herself instead of chasing after a man’s love. Bennet looked proud when talking about the kids she’s met who’ve seen the film and seem to be latching onto these important themes.
Ahead of the film’s release in our interview with Abominable’s writer/co-director Jill Culton, she described Yi as a “kickass, tomboy girl” who she could relate to, since she felt that way about herself growing up and had two Bloodhounds.
Albert Tsai and Tenzing Norgay Trainor, who play Peng and Jin, feel Abominable is about persistence and appreciating what you have. It sounds like the movie’s messages are up for interpretation and there’s more than one message the audience might resonate with while watching it.
CinemaBlend’s own Mike Reyes was not particularly fond of the release, giving it a 2.5 out of 5 in his review, brought down by the “avalanche of bad jokes” and “deep flaws.” But overall, Abominable has received generally good reviews from critics so far, with an 81% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes with over 25 reviews filed.
Check out Abominable, in theaters on September 27.
