Michael B. Jordan takes his talents to animation post-Oscar win in a cute family adventure, writes Carter Smith
When Michael B. Jordan narrowly beat Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor in a Leading Role at this year’s Oscar ceremony, I don’t think anyone would have expected his next role to be a Netflix original animated film.
I can’t help but find it funny that the Dune 3 trailer was held back in hopes of putting Academy Award Winner next to Chalamet’s name and instead that honour went to Swapped.
Like most Netflix originals, their animated films are quite hit and miss. You can get genuine masterpieces such as The Mitchells vs. the Machines or you can get the usual dross like Adam Sandler’s Leo.
I was not under any illusion that Swapped would be anything more than a generic kids movie, but Tangled director Nathan Greno being attached was enough to give me hope that this could be worth the steep 102-minute runtime.
It follows Ollie, (Michael B. Jordan) a curious and trusting Pookoo who doesn’t agree with his father’s worrisome attitude. His defiance soon back fires as he teaches the majestic Javed birds how to open a piplet.
It seems harmless enough, but it soon turns to disaster as the Javed’s take the Pookoo’s food source, leaving them feeding on scraps.
There used to be harmony in the valley between animals. The Dzo’s — one of the many cool animals they created — held the power to let animals swap species with their orchards.
Everyone got along. That was until a Firewolf broke the peace creating an ecosystem built on fear.
The animals managed, and despite Ollie dooming his species, he had found a new way to get the Javed’s away from their food. Then Ollie accidentally turns himself into a javed, and after being helped by a fellow bird Ivy (Ted Lasso), a mix-up turns her into a pookoo. Oops.
If the plot wasn’t already giving you a sense of Déjà vu, this ought to do the trick. Both Ollie and Ivy have to put their differences aside to help each other and the Valley from devastation.
So it’s not the most original plot in the world. That’s ok. I expected as much. What I didn’t expect however, is the presentation of these generic themes of belonging.
Much of my distaste for modern kids movies is its lack of respect for the children watching them. Just this year, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, showed an astounding lack of trust in modern children by shoving a new action scene in every five minutes with no downtime.
Swapped fights back against this. Many times throughout the film there will be passages of no dialogue. Despite an impressive voice cast full of big names, they don’t let that take centre stage. Instead, they’ll let the stellar animation and Siddhartha Khosla’s fantastic score guide you through what’s happening.
It works to great effect. It helps the scenes breathe and deliver on some striking images, which don’t feel the need to be undercut by an obnoxious celebrity.
There is a clear show of effort. There’s a scene after Ollie gets swapped into a Javan which is in first person, which is a creative way to showcase the change.
Where the story may suffer, they make up for it with some great visual story telling. It’s the type of sequences which Pixar used to specialise in, and it’s something which has been incredibly missed in recent kids movies.
It may not have been the trajectory imagined for Jordan, but it’s a welcome one. His soothing voice lends itself perfectly to a kids movie and hopefully more people gave this a watch thanks to his newfound glory.
I’d much rather swap a cash grab by the big studios, for a charming and cute film such as this.
- Swapped is free to watch on Netflix
