Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
For children of the ’80s (myself included), Bigfoot was a kind and gentle creature, not a monster, as evidenced in this family-friendly comedy taking the E.T. approach to the mythological being. Instead of just having a boy befriending a sasquatch, though, in this movie, it’s the whole Henderson family that encounters “Harry” and welcomes him into their home. Of course, in all such fantasy films, there’s also a bad human who wants to prove the existence of the creature and maybe kill it to do so, for fame and fortune (unfortunately David Suchet is not as memorable as, say, Eugene Levy in Splash). The matriarch here is played by Melinda Dillon, one of the all-time great movie moms of the era (known for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A Christmas Story), while the dad is played by John Lithgow in his best family film role (though he is admittedly great in Santa Claus: The Movie), and he’s plenty funny in parts while also quite affectingly dramatic in one significant climactic scene with Harry.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
In this animated feature from 20th Century Fox, a group of mythical creatures lives in isolation and believe humans don’t (any longer) exist. One of these creatures, who are fairies, is given evidence that humans are still around, however, and she goes off to investigate and prove their existence to be true. Unfortunately, she does harm to a human accidentally and then humans are revealed to be very harmful to her world. The main themes of Ferngully and Smallfoot are different, though, with the former being a more environmentalist issue film for kids.
Tintin in Tibet (1992)
I’m cheating a bit here, as this isn’t exactly a movie, not even as much as The Point! is. At least that was presented as a feature in its TV broadcast. Tintin in Tibet, adapted from the Tintin comic book story of the same name by Herge, consists of two episodes of the animated series The Adventures of Tintin. The plot has Tintin looking for his lost friend, Chang, in the Himalayas and spotting a Yeti during his search. Tintin finally finds Chang in a cave with the Yeti but learns the creature had actually saved Chang after his plane crashed and it’s not a monster at all but a good-natured, human-like being.
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Pixar’s fourth feature is set in a land of monsters, and just like the leader of the Yetis in Smallfoot, the inhabits of this world fear humans. The movie follows two characters, the big, blue, horned sasquatch-like beast Sully and the one-eyed, spherically shaped Mike, as they work for the titular company going around scaring children during the night. They encounter one kid who isn’t afraid of them, though, and through their bond with the little girl discover that humans aren’t a poisonous health threat to the monsters after all. There’s also a Yeti featured in Monsters, Inc. that looks like the one from Rudolph. As learned later with his appearance in the prequel Monsters University, the Yeti used to work for the company as a mail sorter but was banished to the Himalayas in the real world for tampering with mail.
The Gruffalo (2009)
In Smallfoot, versatile actor and talk show host James Corden voices the role of Percy, the human who hopes the exploit the legend of the Yeti for his nature television series by pretending that the creature truly exists. But he winds up discovering the real thing. In this Oscar-nominated short, based on the children’s book of the same name and originally broadcast on British TV, Corden voices the part of a mouse who pretends there’s a creature called the Gruffalo as a scheme to help him thwart predators. But he winds up discovering the real thing.
The LEGO Movie (2014)
Not surprising coming from the same studio, Smallfoot has a lot in common with Warner Bros.’ hilarious adaptation of the brick toy brand. Both movies are about a dumb male character enjoying being a part of his uniform society who accidentally happens to stumble upon something that makes him different and in need of going on a quest. Meanwhile, there’s a much smarter female character who is part of a resistance who has to help the hero and probably fall in love with him as they uncover the truth about their world and their existence.
Trolls (2016)
Another movie where creatures live in their own little village society, this one definitely inspired by the Smurfs, Trolls shares with Smallfoot the issue of blissful ignorance. Here, though, the creatures ought to know better since they know their threat, the Bergens, to be real and very hungry for delicious trolls. Also like Smallfoot, Trolls feature a soundtrack filled with pop music, some of it original and some of it reworkings of classic tunes. Trolls does the musical thing better, however, with its songs more clearly enunciated and plot-driven.
In the NPR interview, the Kirkpatricks address the presumed desire to deliver a soundtrack similar to that of Trolls:
KK: “You don’t plan on that, that’s sort of gravy. I do think Warner Bros. was excited about the idea that a lot of times, songs can get out there and get into people’s heads and become a little bit of a calling card for the movie. But I don’t think Wayne and I sat around and went, ‘Oh, here comes ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling.’ “
WK: “I think you have to first and foremost let it be at the service of the movie and the story, and if you’re trying to just write a hit, then you might overshoot the point of the song within the story.”
KK: “Always, we’re looking at, ‘Do these songs tell the story, and do they evoke the emotion that we want to evoke here?’ The general rule in musicals is that the emotion gets so strong that there’s nothing left to do but sing.”
Moana (2016)
As I mentioned in the intro, Smallfoot is a Moana wannabe. It’s about a society that lives on an island, or what they believe to be an island anyway, and they’re not to go beyond the reef-like cloud area to see what lies beyond their isolated area. The whole situation is even set up with an opening sequence where religion-based background material is exposited to villagers. But the threat the society fears manages to make its way to their world anyway and so a hero travels out into the unknown, albeit for different reasons — Migo is banished while the titular Moana ships off to save the world. Moana has a more streamlined story, a more appreciated and immediately iconic hero, and much more memorable songs.
Related Topics: Movie DNA
