An evil wizard presides over the entire world and has banished all happiness, smiling and laughter. Terry, a normal boy, teams up with a princess to put a stop to the wizard's reign and return happiness to the world.
Here Comes The Grump (otherwise known as A Wizard's Tale) is a Mexican-British animated film based on an animated series that ran in the late 60s and early 70s. With 34 episodes to draw inspiration from, it is unfortunate that the film doesn't bring more to the big screen. The animation style is, admittedly, quite smooth. Interestingly, if it had been made darker (much, much darker, mind you), the character designs could easily be mistaken for a Tim Burton-esque aesthetic.
The story does, in fact, try to bring some darkness, but the "gloom" doesn't hold a candle to The Nightmare Before Christmas, not by any stretch of the imagination; more like a toothless ParaNorman. The colours, the character designs, the source material, and the tone of the film all point towards a film that is aimed at a very young audience. An audience that is not entertained by a cohesive story, but likes brightly coloured moving objects, and quirky clumsy dragons. There is definitely enough colourful and fantastical whimsy to appeal to that age group.
This target audience is confirmed by the way in which the violence in the film is portrayed. Everything is more slapstick humour (much like the old Looney Tunes era of Daffy Duck having his beak shot off) where all dangerous events lead to temporary superficial damage that is played off for laughs. All of which prevents the story from feeling like there is every any real impending sense of danger to the protagonists.
The downside of having a young children's animated film at the cinema is that an adult needs to be there to supervise them. Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks animated films have long been adding more adult humour into the stories to ensure the enjoyment of all age groups that would attend the screenings, and striking that balance is integral to the success of the film.
Unfortunately, there are many story points that feel half-baked and like pandering to an audience without a clearly developed idea. For example, one of the worlds we visit, is inhabited by creatures that were described as hard workers, but the new generation are layabouts that all wear tartan collared shirts buttoned all the way up, with poofy hairstyles, peculiar facial hair, spend all their time getting "high", are defeated with a single hit, and have no defence against attack beyond creating an online barrage on social networks and forming hashtags (#Hashtag). It's such an in-your-face attack on the millennial generation by baby boomers that it really begs the question of what generation of parents the screenplay writers think would enjoy this. It seems very eager to continue propagating inaccurate stereotypes.
The film also attempts to weave a feminist angle into the story too, trying to turn the "damsel in distress" stereotype on its head, though it takes the majority of the film to decide to do so, and again the idea doesn't feel well thought out.
The real downside to the film is that is has a complete lack of comedy. It's predictable and has such a low bar to the physical comedy that only the youngest of the young would find anything worth laughing at. There are a few references thrown in (including one to Dora the Explorer in the Map Room), but the majority of comedic attempts--that would be aimed at the more adult audiences--fall flat. Here Comes The Grump is predictable from start to finish, in that you spend most of the film waiting for the characters to figure out what the audience already knows right from the start.
With a trip between worlds, a premise involving a theme park, and a hastily animated ending that doesn't really make sense, Here Comes The Grump has a lot in common with Paramount's flop that was Wonder Park. The young ones will still enjoy it, but you may be better off waiting for it to come out on DVD or streaming, so you don't have to sit through it yourself.