Abominable

Crypto-zoology tales about Bigfoot, Yeti/the Abominable Snowman and the like have come quite a long way since their B-movie heyday of the 1970s with movies like the original Bigfoot (1970) and Return to Boggy Creek (1977). There was a rush of lackluster direct-to-video “Bigfoot” releases in the ’80s as well, with Harry and the Hendersons (1987) being the only big budget production and quasi-box office success of the lot. Lately though, it seems that the studios are cashing in on the Bigfoot/crypto-zoology craze yet again with big-budget animated features engineered to captivate a new generation of moviegoers. On the heels of the very cute and watchable Bigfoot-ish animated movie Missing Link comes Dreamworks’ Abominable, about you guessed it, the abominable snowman, AKA the yeti. A simple, clear story with top-notch animation drives this vehicle that’s worth a watch whether you have kids or not. What makes it so great is that Jill Culton, the visionary behind Monsters, Inc. and the highly underrated Open Season (featuring Paul Westerberg on the soundtrack!) writes and directs.

[PG]