YMMV / Abominable

2019 DreamWorks Animated Film

• Americans Hate Tingle: The film was hated in Vietnam and the Philippines for including the controversial Nine-dash line in a Freeze-Frame Bonus. Both countries eventually pulled the films from theaters. Malaysia followed suit shortly after.

• Awesome Music:
  • The first trailer uses bits of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" to great effect.
  • "Fix You" is used to equally great effect during the scene at the statue.
  • The credits song, "Beautiful Life" (sung by Bebe Rexha), is simply amazing.
• Funny Moments: The "Whoop whoop" snakes are hilarious.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When she first saw that Everest was injured, Yi took some money she was saving up for her big trip and used it to buy medical supplies for his injury. Going on this trip means everything to Yi, who often keeps to herself. The fact she sacrificed even a portion of her savings to heal Everest speaks volumes of her heart and how it's opening up.
  • Everest fixing Yi's damaged violin using his own fur.
  • In the climax, Mr. Burnish remembers that the yeti he encountered only attacked because it was protecting its three babies, and used its powers for the same reason. In the present, he sees a parallel as Everest uses his powers to protect Yi, Pang and Jin.
  • The reveal that the photo of Yi and her father was folded back. When unfolded, we see her mother and Nai Nai, showing that they are just as much a part of her life as her father was.
• I Am Not Shazam: The name of the yeti in the movie is "Everest", not "Abominable", though then again, as described in the Trivia page, that was going to be the film's original title.
• Moe:
  • Just look at Everest! He's basically just a big, fluffy roly-poly ball of cute.
  • Yi is absolutely adorable.
• Moral Event Horizon: Dr. Zara crosses it when she throws Yi off the edge of the bridge.
• Narm: Dr. Zara's Villainous Breakdown at the climax is so sudden and overblown that it can easily come off as incredibly funny to see. Then again, the presentation of it almost comes off as though that was the intention.
• Nightmare Fuel: Dr. Zara herself. A poacher acting as a caring zoologist to gain the trust of others. But it's at the film's climax where she can be considered one of the vilest DreamWorks villains. Just the simple act of her throwing a child off a bridge showcases her disregard for human life. And how far she'll go to put Everest in an auction, alive, or dead.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Between its use of the controversial Nine-dash line map (which led to the film getting pulled in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia) and the fact that it's a China-set film that had the misfortune of being released in the midst of heavy Chinese geopolitical turmoil, it's become more well-known in online discussion spaces for the controversy surrounding it than the actual quality of the film itself.
• Spiritual Successor: Some decided to call the movie "Home (2015) done correctly", since both feature a non-white female protagonist escorting a non-human character through the continent.
• Tear Jerker: One scene where after escaping Dr. Zara and Mr. Burnish through the flower-field-ocean, the group does a head count to see everyone is fine. ...until Yi finds her father's violin damaged. (Thankfully, Everest succesfully fixes the violin with his fur as described above).
  • The entire sequence at the statue, especially the usage of "Fix You" as background music.
• Win Back the Crowd: A minor case, but many consider this movie to be the first step for DreamWorks Animation to return to their old style of snarky, yet beautiful movies after most of their original movies have been regarded as somewhat uninspired, obnoxious or plain stupid.

2006 Live-Action Horror Film

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Is Tracy insulting CJ right before the food slap Anger Born of Worry or coming of some resentment of CJ? She did earlier bring up CJ's status as the only one of them (except maybe Karen) who wasn’t in elementary school together but that came across fairly light-hearted.
• Awesome Moment: When Otis finally recovers from the sedative and awakens to see that Preston was telling the truth and there really is a monster and it's about to kill one of the girls, does he stay hidden in the cabin? No. He grabs an axe and tells the creature "Hey! Ass monkey!" before attacking the beast, saving the girl in the process. This helps redeem him after he had been such a jerk throughout the film. Too bad this gets him killed.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Ziegler's explanation of the Darwin Awards, a very long monologue about a guy who superglues himself to a rhino. Which mostly appears to set up a joke of "Another Darwin Award coming up". Which for a horror film is a pretty good one liner, but of course you need a BLAM for most of the audience to know what a Darwin Award is.
  • CJ is suddenly on the same floor as Amanda and the creature after hiding in the closet above them earlier and blocking the door in a deleted scene, with no direct implication that she came to try and help Amanda or Michelle.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Deputy McBride, the Only Sane Man of the sheriff's department, is quite popular.
  • The three hunters (Ziegler, Farmer Hoss and Buddy) are seen as entertaining and under-utilized for having some decent moments of humor in their three combined scenes and for trying to go after the monster. Ziegler and Buddy being played by Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs helps immensely.
  • Among the girls at the cabin, Tracy (a decently spunky character who tries to do the smart thing and just call the police to report their friend missing) and Asian Airhead and Action Survivor CJ are fairly well-liked. Each woman only has around twenty minutes of screen time and thirty lines of dialogue.
• He Really Can Act: Haley Joel, who came into this movie with just a handful of B-Movie and TV credits, does a good job with her role as the terrified but compassionate Action Survivor deuteragonist.
• He's Just Hiding: Given how the bodies keep being taken away, and only one of the creatures is confirmed to have been hunting humans, it's possible to feel this way about most of the victims, even if it isn't very likely.
  • Hoss and Karen, who are merely dragged away into the shadows with there being no sounds of them being killed, although the latter was already badly injured.
  • CJ might have survived the chest trauma of being stomped on.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Monster loses any sympathy it might have had as a simple predator defending its territory when it attacks Tracy while she's inside the house and drags her out the window.
• Nightmare Fuel: The monster is hideous and terrifying. Special mention goes to the Jump Scare where it kills Tracy.
• One-Scene Wonder: Creepy Good Hunter Ziegler, played by the legendary Lance Henriksen, and Farmer Hoss's wife (who the monster threatens) each have just one scene.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The three hunters being dispatched in just one scene are fairly disappointing, as many fans would have liked them to have a whole subplot seeking out the creature, interacting with Karen, and maybe even reaching the cabins and joining in the action there.
  • CJ doesn't get much screen time or development, even though what screen time she did get leaves fans liking her character and wishing she'd had more scenes fighting and fleeing from the monster. That she never really interacts with Preston is also disappointing.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Recently widowed Preston could have connected some with the engaged Michelle while observing the friends, especially if she’d survived with Amanda. Her engagement reminding him of his wife could have motivated him trying to help the group more in the first place.
• Too Cool to Live: The hunters, CJ, and Tracy.
• Vindicated by History: It was largely overlooked when it came out, and the director never got another feature-length film to work on afterwards, but has received more positive notices over the years.
• The Woobie:
  • All five girls, given how a happy, low-key reunion and bachelorette party turns into an occasion of absolute terror and for some of them death.
  • The hunters, given how little their efforts amount to, and how they also experience fear before falling to the monster.
  • Preston, who lost his wife in a traumatic incident, is forced to return to the area and re-live it and then is unable to stop people from getting killed next door, while being aware he might be next.

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