Swapped, 2026.
Directed by Nathan Greno.
Featuring the voice talents of Michael B. Jordan, Juno Temple, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, Justina Machado, Ambika Mod, Lolly Adefope, Tata Vega, and John Ratzenberger.
SYNOPSIS:
A tiny woodland creature and a majestic bird suddenly swap bodies, forcing them to team up to survive the wildest adventure of their lives.
Set inside a mythical, magical woodland forest, director Nathan Greno’s animated animal body swap feature appropriately titled Swapped finds its familiar messaging about the power of unity and living a day in the shoes of someone else (which is heavy-handed here even by the standards of children’s fare) elevated by vibrant, meticulously detailed and colorfully striking art design; It’s the kind of beautifully realized world that leaves one not at all all surprised to learn that the filmmaker started creating and drawing at a young age (he also directed Tangled, so there are also some industry bona fides here).
Collaborating with the screenwriting team of John Whittington, Robert Snow, and Christian Magalhaes (with Nathan also receiving a story credit alongside Adam Karp), the film establishes a backstory where all these animals once lived in unison, that was until an angry Firewolf (sometimes quite literally with fire pulsating and radiating over the beast’s back, in one of many creative decisions that show imagination behind the character designs) essentially ruined that peace and turned everyone against one another. Part of this malicious process involved destroying magical creatures rendered as walking orchids, which contained glowing purple orbs capable of transforming one animal into the body of another, thereby forcing them to experience life from another perspective, as well as other skill sets such as traversal, survival, and more.
Today, each animal group lives in isolation from the others. There are the Pookoo (a tiny woodland critter resembling a mixture of rats and hedgehogs) who, because they are so small and at the bottom of the food chain ladder, live by the creed of not trusting any other species. It also doesn’t help that at a young age, Ollie (voiced by Michael B Jordan, aside from this expository flashback where the character is voiced by Camden Brooks) made the mistake of trusting a similarly young Javan, a peacock-like flying bird with elaborate and showy feather designs, in theory, doing the right thing and teaching her how to open pockets of seeds to have food the rest of species, only for the rest of them to reveal themselves and steal all of it for themselves. Instead, he feels guilty for not heeding the words of his parents (voiced by Cedric the Entertainer and Justina Machado).
Soon, an adventure kicks into motion where Ollie is reunited with this bird, Ivy (voiced by Juno Temple), still at odds with one another (although they don’t actually realize yet that they have interacted before), also coming into contact with some long-lost remaining magical orbs that swap them into each other’s bodies. Plenty of slapstick humor ensues as Ollie and Ivy struggle to adjust to their new bodies and abilities, while also being forced into teaching one another how to fly or use their heightened sense of smell if they are going to survive and navigate the rest of the forest to locate another orb to revert them into their normal state. Fortunately, they also come across a lonely fish (voiced by Tracy Morgan) who knows the whereabouts of these scattered orbs and is willing to help simply if it means having some friends.
As mentioned, the humor here is primarily aimed at children, more so than usual for an animated feature, which typically tries to strike a balance or use something sneaky and clever that adults can also laugh at. It’s also not necessarily a negative that Swapped isn’t interested in doing this, as the animation is so intricately gorgeous, weaving together a lifelike feel with wondrous magic. Coupled with a well-meaning story, likable characters, and solid voiceover performances, it is mostly a spellbinding watch.
In the hands of a lesser art team, this would have been rendered painfully generic. That painterly aesthetic and inventive world-building salvage some of those shortcomings in depth; there is just enough magic in Swapped.
Flickering Myth Rating– Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
