I haven't watched a 2021 movie in a while so I'm gonna be catching up on the summer 2021 movies I didn't get around to yet. I found out about this one last year and was decently excited for it. I wasn't expecting anything phenomenal but nothing too bad. I pretty much got what I was anticipating. Some enjoyment, but it was missing something. I felt like the movie kept following the typical animated movie story beats with it's themes and the way the story flowed, but it has some charm in it to keep it unique. Throughout the film I kept getting Soul, Moana, and even La La Land vibes with the animation, music, and style. It didn't take anything from them, except Lin Manuel Miranda's songwriting that was in Moana, but the vibes are there. The movie has everything an animated movie has with the likable and charming protagonist, the annoying/delightful sidekick (in this case more annoying until the final few minutes), the songs, the story beats among other things, but it has this style and charisma to keep it a bit unique. What I thought the film did best was it's emotional beats. It knew exactly how to create the emotion, even if those scenes were predictable and cliche. I knew the first emotional thing that would happen immediately as the opening song ended, but it still packed the emotion in that scene to make it have the effect it would have if you didn't figure that part out. The ending of course is predictable, but it's an animated kids movie so obviously it will end the way it did, but it still packs an emotional punch and it did that in a nice way. While not perfect, it still supplies fun with the catchy songs in the same good old Lin Manuel Miranda style to keep both kids and adults entertained.
GRADE
B-
