Swapped: Another Case of Been There Done That

The third feature film produced by Skydance Animation, following such lackluster efforts ‘Luck‘ and ‘Spellbound,’ Swapped marks a marginal improvement and is a step up for the company in quality, storytelling, and animation. The story follows Ollie (Jordan), a small woodland mammal and Ivy (Juno Temple), a majestic bird, two natural sworn enemies of The Valley. After meeting at a young age, their disdain for each other only grew over the years since. Now, as Ollie and Ivy accidentally swap bodies after crashing into a magical plant, the pair must reluctantly team up and set off the adventure of a lifetime, while growing closer together and helping the woodland animals they meet along the way.

A harmless and well intended family film that younger audiences are no doubt going to eat up, it has the unfortunate timing of being released on Netflix shortly after the far superior, and similar, ‘Hoppers.‘ To its credit, the animation is absolutely gorgeous, and its score is quite lovely, effectively tapping into the right emotions. Meanwhile, the film is fast paced and contains quite a collection of cute animals that are downright adorable to watch, and offers a universal message that all audiences can appreciate and can take something positive away from.

The voice work is also better than one might typically expect from actors not typically associated with animation. Jordan delivers an energetic performance as Ollie, one which audiences can tell the actor isn’t just there for a paycheck, as actual effort is put in, and that work fits the character perfectly. Similarly, Temple is as good as Ivy. The chemistry between Ollie and Ivy is a lot of fun, but the real standout is Morgan, an actor that is no stranger to voice work. He is committed beyond belief as Boogle, the film’s funniest and most fascinating character. Though he could have easily phoned in his performance, he shows up and delivers one of the more memorable vocal performances in recent memory.

All that being said, it doesn’t change the fact that audiences have undoubtedly seen this exact type of film countless times before, including ones that have tackled this same premise more effectively. From the get-go, it feels all too predictable and streamlined, to the point where its body swap premise isn’t all that exciting or that fresh. Another big knock against the film is its lack a clever sense of humour, or laughs, despite going for them constantly and falling flat more times than not. Outside of Ollie and Ivy, and Boogle, none of the characters are all that memorable or stand out, and the plot is just way too simple for its own good. In what was a missed opportunity, the film had several opportunities to challenge its audience or raise awareness on usually taboo subject matter for a family flick, it instead fails to even scratch the surface.

Swapped is far from what most would consider a bad film, as it should entertain younger audiences without push any older audiences over the edge, but there is otherwise not much to latch onto outside of its big heart and great message. When all is set and done, this all just feels like yet another case of been-there-done-that, a problem that pretty much sums up all of the Skydance Animation projects released thus far. One can only hope that this film serves as a wakeup call that leads them to start creating more original work in the future. While it almost gets a pass off the strength of its cute animals, gorgeous animation, and pacing, it still could  have been a lot better as a whole.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/