A great example of how adaptations do not need to be like their source material

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2019)

The book was one of my favorites growing up. I must have read it dozens of times. So one would think that a loose adaptation would annoy me. I mean the film mostly just take the central concept and a few of the visual motifs from the book. It switches genres from fantasy/fairy tale to science fiction. It introduces every character in the film as a new character, Yet for all that this is one of the best adaptations I have seen. It takes the concept into a different direction and builds a rather touching father-son story around it. The humor is daft. The characters are utterly vivid. And they stick the landing on the emotional story beats.
The animation is a lot more cartoony than a lot of animated films. It makes sense that the same two guys that made this would go to make the Lego Movie and Spiderverse. There is a striking style to the animation that makes it a lot more particular than photorealism that too much of CGI goes for. This is a really great family film.