Epic (stylized as epic) is a 2013 American computer-animated fantasy action-adventure film loosely based on William Joyce's 1996 children's book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. It was produced by Blue Sky Studios; written by William Joyce, James V. Hart, Daniel Shere, Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember; and directed by Chris Wedge, the director of the animated movies Ice Age (2002) and Robots (2005). The film features the voices of Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O'Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, and Beyoncé Knowles. After teenager Mary Katherine gets shrunk and teleported to a tiny woodland kingdom inhabited by talking slugs, flower people and tiny soldiers called Leafmen, she is swept up in a wild adventure between good and evil and, alongside her new friends, must fight to protect the world she never knew existed. Epic was released on May 24, 2013, by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $268 million against its $93 million budget. Plot After her mother dies, 17-year-old Mary Katherine (“M.K.”) moves in with her eccentric scientist father Professor Bomba. Bomba has spent his life researching the Leafmen, tiny humanoid soldiers who protect the neighboring forest from wicked creatures called Boggans. M.K. is irritated by her father’s work, believing his theories to be nonsense. Meanwhile, Nod, an independent young Leafman, decides to quit, much to the ire of his no-nonsense leader Ronin, who promised Nod’s late father he would look out for him. The forest’s benevolent ruler, Queen Tara, must choose her successor and arrives at a pool of lily pods, manned by a laid-back slug Mub and wannabe Leafman snail Grub. Immediately after she chooses a pod, the Boggans attack. The Boggans overwhelm the Leafmen, while Tara flees with Ronin on his hummingbird mount. The pair are pursued by the Boggans’ leader Mandrake and his son Dagda. Dagda is killed by Ronin, but not before he fatally wounds Tara with an arrow. M.K. decides to leave after getting into an argument with Bomba about his research. Outside, M.K. encounters Tara, who entrusts the pod to her, shrinks her with magic, and tells her to take it to Nim Galuu, a glowworm wizard, before finally dying. M.K. is accompanied by Ronin and the Leafmen, along with Mub and Grub. Ronin recruits a reluctant Nod after saving him from short-tempered toad gangster Bufo.