Movie review | 'Abominable:' Yeti movie is mostly by the book

So much of “Abominable,” the new film from DreamWorks Animation, feels like it was designed by focus groups.

There’s a Yeti that belches a lot, evil scientists, plucky kids and animals that look as if they were conjured up by toy merchandising executives. Even the sidekicks seem to have sidekicks. If all that isn’t mainstream enough, the theme music is perhaps the most inoffensive pop song ever recorded — “Fix You” by Coldplay.

But there are a lot of welcome subtleties from writer/director Jill Culton, a former Pixar artist whose career goes back to the first “Toy Story.” “Abominable” features one of the most nuanced and likable young heroines in recent animated feature history. And for a film that often seems to be working off a checklist, it ends up being a memorable time at the movies.

Just as “A Bug’s Life”/“Antz” and “Book of Life”/“Coco” featured two films with similar themes in production at the same time, “Abominable” has the misfortune of being the second abominable snowman movie in less than a year.

But unlike the quirky and visually stylish “Smallfoot” from Warner Brothers Animation, “Abominable” has an earnest and ethereal quality. Like the often stunning “How to Train Your Dragon” movies, these DreamWorks filmmakers want to use sound and visuals to take your breath away.

Chloe Bennet ("Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") voices Yi, a girl who lives in China with her mother and grandmother. She works hard and saves money in hopes of someday traveling, but her personal life is a struggle. The death of Yi’s father has made it hard to communicate with family and friends.

There’s a complex scene early on where the girl tells her mother she’s sold her father's violin, then reveals she’s hidden it on the roof where she only plays when no one is around. The flash of heartbreak from the mother and guilt from Yi are followed by the first of several lovely musical sequences involving the seemingly magical instrument.

For the hour after Everest the Yeti shows up, the character subtleties are few and far between. “Abominable” follows the “E.T.” template, with corporate scientific interests chasing the Yeti, as the kids try to keep it safe. Yi and her friends are chased through a mystical countryside that is way less interesting than the narrative going on in her apartment.

The bad guys, led by aging collector Burnish (Eddie Izzard) and zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson), offer nothing you haven’t seen in 47 other animated movies. Culton and company go for a bodily function-themed joke one too many times.

But as Yi and the Yeti get closer to Mt. Everest, the noise subsides, and the nuances begin to return. While the plot developments are very predictable at the end, the moments of beauty are often disarming.

“Abominable” delivers all the notes you expect from family-friendly animation these days. And, thankfully, a little bit more.

At a glance

"Abominable." Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman.

MPAA rating: PG (for some action and mild rude humor)

Running time: 1:32

Now showing at the Columbus 10 at Westpointe, Crosswoods, Dublin Village 18, Easton 30, Grove City 14, Lennox 24, Movies 12 Carriage Place, Movies 16 Gahanna, Pickerington, Polaris and River Valley theaters and the South Drive-In