Dir: Jill Culton. Starring: Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, Tsai Chin, and Michelle Wong. U cert, 97 mins
Just in case your craving for animated films about mythical apes hadn’t been satisfied by this year’s Smallfoot and Missing Link, here comes Abominable. But this one stands apart for two reasons: it’s the second official co-production between DreamWorks and China’s Pearl Studio,
Previously known as Oriental DreamWorks, and with Jill Culton at the helm, it’s the first major studio animation with a woman credited as the sole writer and director.
Those milestones aside, Abominable feels awfully familiar in places, especially when you realise the adorable yeti at its centre is just How To Train Your Dragon’s Toothless with a furry makeover. But we’re at least getting a typical story told from an atypical perspective.
Finally freed from the confines of fairytale worlds and American suburbia, Abominable instead opens on modern-day Shanghai. It’s home to Yi (Chloe Bennett), a teenage girl who keeps busy with odd jobs – from dog walking to bussing tables – as a way to distract herself from her father’s death.
Although her mother (Michelle Wong) and Nai Nai (Tsai Chin) are kind and loving, there’s a distance between them that’s made it harder for Yi to mourn.