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New Aardman Film, Early Man Surprises Everyone By Being A Sports Movie

Early Man is the new movie from Aardman Studios and Nick Park, the people who brought you Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Flushed Away and Shaun The Sheep. The movie is based in Manchester, just in prehistoric times. But so much of modern Manchester is right there.

It sells itself as a Stone Age vs Bronze Age epic, the idea of a clash of cultures, the new overtaking the old without appreciating what was, while the old has refused to change, plants itself in a field and sayings "you move" only to be flattened.

What it doesn't tell you in the publicity for this film, is that this field is a football pitch. And that this is a sports film, a football movie, through and through, from nose to curly hog's tail.

It can't avoid the football entirely in the trailer, but it does avoid pointing out that this is the narrative focus of the film. Much in the way that the trailers for Sweeney Todd, went out of their way not to mention that it was a musical. Or more specifically, how Annapolis avoided all mention that it was a boxing movie.

Is this an attempt to evade American disinterest in all things "soccer"? Or have them wondering whey people are playing footballs with round balls, no padding and.. well… their feet?

Seemingly not. Because there's a whole lot more football in the US trailer than there was in the UK one.

It's baffling.

There's one great gag from one of the football commentators brought into the match, saying that the cavemen team should be called "Early Man United", and frankly that should have been the name of the film. Maybe putting a football on the poster may have helped. Otherwise, it looks more like a gladiatorial stadium.

So, yes, the film has an enclave of cavemen bliss, amongst the terrors of the age, a green and pleasant land that is invaded by the French. Sorry, I mean the Bronze Age civilisation of homo sapiens. They just all have ridiculously over-the-top Allo' Alloo-style French accents, with Tom Hiddleston luxuriating in the best bad guy he's ever played, yes better than Loki,  while the Neanderthals have a variety of British voices from all over the Isles. Which now totally seems like a Brexit movie too, even though this will have been started long before the referendum.

But through and through it is football. A community of cavemen with cave painting showing their long footballing heritage, even though they don't recognise it. A fight for their way of life that depends on their ability to reacquire that skill. And lots and lots of montages.

Don't get me wrong. This a very fun, family film that is silly, strange and cool, with just enough jokes aimed at the adults to keep everyone jollying along. Though mostly involving the words "tackle". And while CGI is used in the movie, the focus is on the plasticine, achieving a realism onscreen that CGI has never yet captured.

But, I really wasn't expecting a sports movie. And I'm not alone…

https://twitter.com/JagerShakes/status/956935058006380551

https://twitter.com/NonFamousGibson/status/956903087498760193

At least it seems the Americans will have more of an idea going in…

Early Man is out in the UK now and will be out in the USA on February 16th.

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