Flawed 'Smallfoot' steps up with push for acceptance and integrity

<h3 class="briefHead">"Smallfoot" - ★ ★ ½</h3>

"It's not just about tearing down old ideas," a character in "Smallfoot" says. "It's about finding new ones!"

The ideas in Warner Animation Group's musical fantasy may not be new, but they become the best part of a needlessly complicated, cartoonish creation, a kiddie-centric comedy closer to a Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner clone than a Pixar production.

"Smallfoot" tells of a group of Abominable Snow People led by the dictatorial Stonekeeper (Common) who surrounds himself with yes-Yetis.

He banishes anyone who dares to question what he says, and constantly reassures his community that he, and he alone, possesses the knowledge (through prophetic stones) to keep everyone safe.

The Stonekeeper convinces the story's seemingly compliant hero Migo (Channing Tatum) to lie for him. Later, when Migo's friends discover this, they ask, "How can we believe you? You lied."

"Smallfoot" turns out to be an unexpected and bluntly delivered lesson in integrity.

It takes swipes not only against government deceit, but the media's willingness to pursue ratings at all costs.

So, is the movie's uncanny capture of our political zeitgeist the result of prescient planning, or blind chance?

One day on the mountain, Migo sees a "smallfoot" (actually, a parachuting pilot) before he's swept away by the wind.

The Stonekeeper calls his sighting untruthful and demands he recant his words. No one believes Migo, except his pals Meechee (Zendaya), Gwangi (LeBron James) and Kolka (Gina Rodriguez), members of the secret Smallfoot Evidentiary Society (SES).

It turns out that an elaborate religious ruse - involving a Giant Sky Yak and a light-delivering snail - has been concocted to keep the Yetis ignorant of the allegedly dangerous humans who live below the clouds.

When Migo is banished from his community, he goes in search of the mythological smallfoot and meets Percy Patterson (James Corden), an obnoxious nature documentary show host so desperate for ratings that he wants his producer Brenda (Yara Shahidi) to put on a costume and pretend to be a sasquatch.

Naturally, Percy mistakes Migo for a disguised Brenda.

One of the movie's most inspired gags has Migo speaking English to us, but to Percy, his words sound like threatening, thundering growls. To Migo, Percy's voice sounds like a high-pitched screech.

"Smallfoot," directed by Karey ("Over the Hedge") Kirkpatrick, features several generic musical numbers, one vaguely similar to the "Let It Go" anthem from "Frozen."

The most memorable line might be "It's a wonderful life," probably because it's the title of a classic holiday film.

"Smallfoot" comes with the usual bag of Hollywood visual cliches (the thumbs-up gesture, the tandem scream, fireworks), but its well-intended message of accepting others who don't look like us resonates with relevance.

Then we have the SES "Scroll of Invisible Wisdom," a smallfoot artifact that to us looks like a roll of toilet paper.

<b>Starring:</b> Channing Tatum, Zendaya, James Corden, Common, LeBron James, Danny DeVito

<b>Directed by:</b> Karey Kirkpatrick

<b>Other:</b> A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG. 109 minute