History WesternAnimation / Epic2013

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Though it seems like science fiction made up for the film, [[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24078179 it's scientifically proven that small creatures truly do perceive time differently]].

Not to be confused with the [[NamesTheSame identically titled]] [[WesternAnimation/Epic1984 1984 Australian animated film]], and has no relation to Creator/EpicGames.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Grackles and a star-nosed mole appear as Boggan mounts. Not a rare ''species'', but a [[SubvertedTrope seldom-seen role]] '''for''' [[NiceMice a species]], occurs when a ferocious ''mouse'' attacks MK.

* SimpleStaff: During the Boggan ambush, a squad of Leafman are shown weilding quarterstaffs, unadorned and about the size of the Leafmen themselves.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Grackles and a star-nosed mole appear as Boggan mounts. Not a rare ''species'', but a [[SubvertedTrope seldom-seen role]] '''for''' [[NiceMice a species]], occurs when a ferocious mouse attacks MK.

* KillerRabbit: The Leafmen treat ordinary mice like we would treat bears. Other small creatures like chipmunks are also terrifying, apparently. Interestingly, the much-larger deer isn't scary at all, presumably due to being a herbivore rather than an omnivore.

Not to be confused with the [[NamesTheSame identically titled]] [[WesternAnimation/Epic1984 1984 Australian animated film]].

* MalevolentMice: After she shrinks to Leafman height, MJ discovers the dangers of the forest when she and Nod are both attacked by a deer mouse.

* MeaningfulEcho: ''"Put your arms around me..."''

* MouseWorld: The forest. Bonus points for an actual mouse showing up... and [[RealityEnsues trying to eat MK]].

* FamousLastWords:
--> [[spoiler:'''Queen Tara:''']] So serious.

--> '''Dagda:''' I won't let you down...Dad.\\
'''Mandrake:''' I know you won't.

--->'''Mub:''' I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't say that in the scrolls.
---> '''Mandrake:''' It does in the part I have.

---> '''Mandrake:''' *mockingly* Well now I'm just embarassed. I ''completely'' overprepared.

--> '''Dagda:''' I won't let you down...Dad.

An animated fantasy adventure, based on Creator/WilliamJoyce's ''The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs''. The film features a teenage girl, Mary Katherine (MK to her friends), who finds herself [[IncredibleShrinkingMan thrown into]] the world of the Leaf Men, protectors of the forest, and a battle "between the forces of good and evil". It is produced by Creator/BlueSkyStudios, and directed by [[WesternAnimation/IceAge Chris Wedge]].

An animated fantasy adventure, based on Creator/WilliamJoyce's ''The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs''. The film features a teenage girl, Mary Katherine, who finds herself [[IncredibleShrinkingMan thrown into]] the world of the Leaf Men, protectors of the forest, and a battle "between the forces of good and evil". It is produced by Creator/BlueSkyStudios, and directed by [[WesternAnimation/IceAge Chris Wedge]].

* FauxAffablyEvil: Mandrake's words are often quite polite, but his tone is almost always one of gleeful malice. He bursts up through the floorboards [[spoiler: at Nim's]], tears up the place, and then politely asks if anyone has seen the pod.

%%* TheLeader: Ronin.

%%* LightIsGood: Played straight.

%%* {{Lilliputians}}: The residents of Moonhaven.
%%* LilliputianWarriors: The Leafmen and the Boggans.

%%* NemeanSkinning: The Boggans.
%%-->''"You look good in rat."''

'''Mandrake:''' It does in the part I have.

%%* PlantPerson: The plant-based Jinn.

%%* SimpleStaff: Another Leafman weapon of choice.%%Is?
%%* ShipTease: MK with Nod, and Ronin with Tara.

%%* TheTeam: Nearly a FiveManBand, but TheBigGuy is a [[TheDividual Dividual]].

%%* WildWilderness: The forest.
%%* WorldHealingWave: [[spoiler:After the pod blooms in full moonlight.]]

%%* BatOutOfHell: The Boggans' favorite mammals.%%Are?

%%* BitCharacter: Finn.

%%* BlackComedy: The fruit fly scene.

%%* BowAndSwordInAccord: Some of the Leafmen.

%%* ChekhovsGun:
%%** The bat sounds MK's father keeps on his iPod.
%%** The pinned bug armor that's on display.

%%* DarkIsEvil: The Boggans.

%%* DeathAsComedy: The fruit fly scene.

%%* DitzyGenius: Professor Bomba.

%%* FauxAffablyEvil: Mandrake.

%%* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Done to MK.

%%* IronicEcho: "Ozzy! No kisses."

* TouchOfDeath: The Boggans' weapons can deteriorate anything they touch, skeletonizing a bat in seconds. Mandrake's staff is much more potent, able to fell an entire tree with one swing.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The large boggan guard and his incredibly thin cohort.
%%* ThoseTwoGuys: Mub and Grub.

%%* ArmorPiercingQuestion:%%Quotes alone are not context.
%%-->'''MK:''' *learns how she can return to normal size* That means... I can get home!\\
%%'''Nim:''' Well, if you want to go home so bad, then why'd you leave? *leaves MK with her thoughts*

* {{Adorkable}}: Bomba has some traces of this, as does Grub.

'''MK:''' I know where we can get some.

** Grub [[spoiler:also joins the ranks of the Leafmen]] by the end of the film]].

* MauveShirt: Finn, Ronin's second in command with the beard, is the most identifiable Leafman outside of the main cast who leads the troops and has a few lines of dialogue. Though his living status is unknown. On the Villain's side there's the fat and skinny pair of guards who chase the heroes later in the film and can usually be fighting with one another.

* {{all lowercase letters}}: The style of the movie title.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
--> '''MK:''' *learns how she can return to normal size* That means... I can get home!
--> '''Nim:''' Well, if you want to go home so bad, then why'd you leave? *leaves MK with her thoughts*

** [[spoiler:The flower girl, who idolized Queen Tara and wanted to be just like her, is chosen to be her heir when the pod blooms under the full moon.]]
** [[spoiler: Grub also joins the ranks of the Leafmen by the end of the film.]]

* BareYourMidriff: The female bird racer seems to do this with her outfit. Look [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848537/mediaviewer/rm741983232 here]].
* BatScare: To MK.
* BatOutOfHell: The Boggans' favorite mammals.

* BitCharacter: Finn.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: All Boggans are all evil, the Leafmen are all good.
* BlackComedy: The fruit fly scene.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Queen Tara is shot by an arrow from a Boggan soldier, and is the first important character to die on screen.]]

* BowAndSwordInAccord: Some of the Leafmen.

* ChekhovsGun: The bat sounds MK's father keeps on his iPod.
** The pinned bug armor that's on display.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The flower kid who wants to be like Queen Tara. [[AscendedFanboy Guess what happens...]]]]

* DarkIsEvil: The Boggans.

* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Gee, you thought Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce) is going to do a lot of ass-kicking throughout the whole movie except that she dies and gives the MacGuffin to MK. This also goes the same with Dagda who gets killed by Ronin earlier in the movie.]]

* DeathAsComedy: The Fruit Fly scene.

* DisappearedDad: Played with. Professor Bomba's single-minded focus on finding the Leafmen caused his wife to leave with his child. But when she returns at age 17, he does a terrible job of bonding with her because he has been alone so long with only a dog for company that he can't shake free of his obsession. When he finally does, it's when she's realized he was right all along.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Ronin appears to be taken out by a hoard of boggans, but he reappears in time to keep Mandrake away from the pod]].

* DitzyGenius: Professor Bomba. See Bunny-Ears Lawyer above.

--> '''Ronin:''' (to Nod) I don't have any boggan armor handy; do you?
--> '''MK:''' I know where we can get some.

--> [[spoiler:'''Queen Tara:''' So serious.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: Mandrake.

* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Gender-flipped. Done to MK.
* InNameOnly: Probably the loosest adaptation of a Joyce work to date.
* InSeriesNickname: Apparently, "MK" for Mary Katherine.

* InterspeciesRomance: MK and Nod, and Mub has a one-sided crush on MK as well.
* IronicEcho: "Ozzy! No kisses."

* JustOneSecondOutOfSync: The tiny inhabitants of the forest are hard for humans to see because they exist in a state where they naturally move faster than larger animals, humans included. Seen from MK's perspective, Queen Tara is vibrating so fast that she leaves after-images even when she's not actually moving.
** [[ShownTheirWork Which, according to the theory of relativity,]] [[YearInsideHourOutside could happen]].

* LightIsGood: Played straight.

* {{Lilliputians}}: The residents of Moonhaven.
* LilliputianWarriors: The Leafmen and the Boggans.

* MixAndMatchCritters: The Boggan {{Mook}}s look like a cross between frogs and sharks. Mandrake and his son, however, look more cat- and human- like.

** MK and Nod come back from a romantic ride on a deer - only to realize that [[spoiler:while they were gone, Mandrake kidnapped Mub, Grub, and the pod.]]

* NemeanSkinning: The Boggans.
--> ''"You look good in rat."''
* NiceMice: ''Drastically'' subverted when MK's belief in this trope, despite Nod's warnings, nearly gets her killed. When you're the size of a small insect, an ordinary field mouse is a ''predator'', not something to squee over.
** WordofGod says it was a grasshopper mouse, which happens to be a carnivore.

* OhCrap: MK, when she realises it's not AllJustADream:
-->'''MK:''' ... Dad? I had the most messed-up dream. There were talking slugs, and tiny little soldiers and-
-->'''Grub:''' Helloo!
-->'''MK:''' Aw, ''man''.

-->'''Bufo''': You got rid of the queen but let her pod get away? Plus your idiot general gets himself mulched. Haha!\\
'''Mandrake''': [[TranquilFury That "idiot general"]] '''''[[spoiler:[[SuddenlyShouting WAS MY SON!!!]]]]''''' (''stabs his staff into the ground, and destroys a nearby tree. One of Mandrake's hench-bugs scowls at Bufo and snaps the twig he's holding in half; Bufo's now terrified'')\\

* PlantPerson: The plant-based Jinn.
* PraetorianGuard

* {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler: Queen Tara is on her last day of being in charge. When she's picking her replacement, the villains show up, and [[WeHardlyKnewYe well...]]]] Somewhat justified, as this was apparently the only day she would have been vulnerable due to her powers being ready to transfer.

* SimpleStaff: Another Leafmen weapon of choice.
* ShipTease: MK with Nod, and Ronin with Tara.

* TheTeam: Nearly a FiveManBand, but TheBigGuy is a [[TheDividual Dividual]]
** TheChick: MK, a rare combination with TheProtagonist
** TheLeader: Ronin
** TheLancer: Nod
** ThoseTwoGuys / TheBigGuy: Mub and Grub, BigFun variety as comic relief characters
** TheSmartGuy: Nim Galuu

* ThoseTwoGuys: Mub and Grub.
* TooDumbToLive: Nim. He has the MacGuffin that the bad guys are searching all over for, and what does he do? He holds it up to the crowd that's gathered at his tree, and tells each and every one of them exactly how important it is. And then, he sends out his fireflies to broadcast not just to the people he want's to get in touch with, but to the entire forest, that the MacGuffin is right here, and poorly guarded, could you please send reinforcements?
** Not to mention half of the team charged with guarding it not keeping a very close eye on it while they're in the tree, and leaving it to the slugs.
*** They never necessarily said it was poorly guarded; they said the pod was safe, and that it will be brought back to Moonhaven.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Tara and Dagda, the latter even more so as he dies offscreen.]]

--> '''Ronin:''' *has Nod against the wall* Stay with the pod; that's all you had to do!
--> '''Nod:''' Yeah, but I thought...
--> '''Ronin:''' Do you ever think about ''anyone'' besides yourself?!
--> '''MK:''' *comes to Nod's aid* It wasn't all his fault!
--> '''Ronin:''' *turns to her* And you! I expected this much from him, but I thought you'd know better.
--> '''Nod:''' We're really sorry, okay? We just...
--> '''Ronin:''' I don't want to hear it. That was the last part of the queen [[FreudianSlip that I-]]... *realizes what had slipped out* that any of us will ever have.
* WildWilderness: The forest.
* WorldHealingWave: [[spoiler:After the pod blooms in full moonlight.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy:
-->'''M.K.:''' So, this Nim guy can help, right? He's like the wise old man of the forest.
-->'''Nod:''' He's more like the [[CloudCuckooLander crazy uncle]].

** [[DidTheResearch Which, according to the theory of relativity,]] [[YearInsideHourOutside could happen]].

** The Boggans are ugly, and the animals they use as mounts (bats, grackles, and a star-nosed mole) are ones that are generally disliked by humans. Whereas the Leafmen are all good-looking, and ride hummingbirds.