‘Swapped’: A body swap, and foes turn friends

This smartly inventive animated comedy, directed by Nathan Greno and produced by Skydance Animation (the David Ellison-led studio), takes us on a magical journey through the animal kingdom where chaos and conflict reign because of a body-swap experience between a tiny woodland creature and a majestic bird.

The fact that it’s similarly themed to Pixar’s much superior ‘Hoppers’ may be a downer, but there’s no doubting its innate charm. ‘Swapped’, unlike ‘Hoppers’, exists in a world without both humans and real animals, is less demanding and, therefore, much lighter in experience.

This film is fashioned as an odd-couple buddy comedy in which the small woodland creature, a Pookoo, Ollie (voiced by Michael B Jordan), and the majestic bird, a Javan, Ivy (voiced by Juno Temple), natural sworn enemies of The Valley, are forced to team up after encountering a mysterious plant.

They end up having to navigate each other’s worlds, and develop a friendship while embarking on a wild fun-filled adventure.

Ollie plans to trick Ivy, so just when she swoops down to grab him, he blinds her with two shiny objects. They collide with each other and tumble into a magic pod. The next thing they know is they’ve switched bodies.

Ivy inhabits Ollie’s small, furry woodland creature body, while Ollie gets to be the majestic predator bird. Though Ollie has wings now, he doesn’t know how to fly. Ivy, on the other hand, shortchanged in the exchange, doesn’t know how to walk. The accident has pushed them further away from home and both have to navigate survival among larger animals looking at them as juicy prey.

A fish named Boogle (Tracy Morgan) helps them search for a magic pod that could potentially change them back to their natural state. In the process, the improbable pair also happens to discover that the fellow creatures of the valley are now in danger.

The body-swap set-up is in a fantasy realm where wildlife indulges in exciting experiences with other woodland animals so that the young target audience gets to see unlikely bonding in an empathetic fashion. The thematic content about inter-species harmony is simplistic but the storyline has a fairy-tale like enchantment.

The base comedy is achieved through the bungling fish out of water efforts of both creatures in making do with their new appendages. It’s funny enough watching Ollie and Ivy trying to adapt to their new normal.

The banter and physical humour look and sound innane. The adventure comprises unusual experiences that allow both creatures to explore imaginary realms while navigating alien spaces and finding a way out of their predicament.

Nathan Greno, better known for directing animated Walt Disney shorts and co-directing ‘Tangled’, manages to make this first solo feature a satisfactory outing. John Whittington, Christian Magalhães and Robert Snow’s script is peppered with funny asides and jokes.

Jordan, Temple and Tracy Morgan’s distinctive voice work lends stature to this enterprise. But it’s not strong enough to lend nuance to the emotion, humour and life lessons haphazardly stitched together.

The animation style generates vibrant visuals. The unique creature design and functioning plant-animal hybrid ecosystem lend a believable realism to this toonish realm. The environs look beautiful and the characters cute and cuddly. The visuals achieved thus look gorgeous and delightful.

The music, composed by Siddhartha Dinesh Khosla in his maiden effort for an animation feature, is quite accomplished.

The brisk pacing is likely to keep the young ones hooked and happy. The lessons may not be deep or insightful, but there’s enough here to keep you intrigued and engaged.