Parents' Guide to The Summit of the Gods

In search of peaks both physical and emotional, director Patrick Imbert's beautifully animated quest falls just short of the summit. The desire to achieve the unachievable and to be small and yet conquer the mighty are well-traveled yet still appealing themes. Here we get the intrigue of watching two adjacent quests join forces, both characters unrelenting and obsessed with their individual missions.

Magnificent in its landscape artistry but intimate in its storytelling, The Summit of the Gods avoids the brash nature of commercial animated features. Instead, it turns inward. Infamously, when Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Everest, he replied, "Because it is there." This film asks and offers an equally frustrating non-answer to why humans push themselves to their own physical limits, allowing viewers to wonder whether they're made of the same stuff -- and if that's a good or bad thing. The benefit of animation is that, by trailing two outdoorsmen scaling an icy, steep mountain, Imbert captures moments that would be much harder in live action. We feel the adrenaline pumping, the freezing wind piercing, the pain the climbers are suffering, and the terror and elation of trying to best Mother Nature. The end is exciting, but the bulk of the storytelling is as cold as a mountaintop in January, and young viewers are likely to fall away before they reach the apex.