Burnish is the central antagonist turned anti-hero of DreamWorks' 37th full-length animated feature film Abominable. He was a villain until it's revealed that he is a supporting character who reforms his ways near the end.
As a young man, Burnish went hiking along the Himalayan Mountains and encountered a yeti which was thought to be mythical. Burnish tried to defend himself against the yeti, but the yeti, frightened by Burnish and feeling the urge to protect her offspring, created a storm to escape. Though Burnish did not see how the yeti vanish and forgot why it had disappeared, he tried to report his discovery, but no one believed him as he did not have proof of the yeti's existence. Determined to show the world the existence, Burnish built his own company and funded means to open a zoo and capture a yeti with the help of Dr. Zara, a zoologist, and his henchmen where they were able to capture a young yeti.
The yeti escapes the facility and takes shelter in Yi's apartment. Burnish evaculates the facility and takes Dr. Zara with him to track down and reclaim the yeti. They track Yi and her friends down to the Sichuan region and his henchemen captures Jin. During his captivity, Jin discovers that Burnish is trying to abduct and murder the yeti for devising medical research.
Burnish, Zara and the conspiracy manage to find Yi and the yeti by the Yellow River and preparerade to eliminate the creature. Luckily, they flee them via help of the yeti's magical powers by making them surf on the flower fields, arraying as it were tidal wave.
Throughout the rest of the journey, they reach the Himalayas, where the yeti is born origin from. Unfortunately, after crossing the bridge, Burnish and Zara corner them once again. However, Burnish is able to attain redemption after seeing that the yeti is in fact vindicating the children in precarious states. Zara on the other hand is shown to be callous and greedy and orders the goon men to shoot a tranquilizing dart as dart, sedating him. She then orders to fire at the yeti too, but they are able to escape and after a long fight to survive from the goons and Zara and her men fall off the mountain in their truck, and the avalanche covers up thier fall, killing her for good.
Burnish aids the kids in returning the yeti home and apologizes for his nefarious acts. He gifts them with hiking equipment for the next excursion they will attend together in the future, while Burnish himself heads off on his own journey.
Personality
In his first scene, Burnish is shown to be a corrupt and greedy businessman who's bent on capturing Everest to reveal his existence and earn money on revealing the yeti's existence. However, it is revealed that Burnish's determination to show the yeti to the world is actually caused when Burnish saw a yeti a long time ago when he was a young man, but no one believed him. After that, Burnish became fixed on proving the existence of yetis so he can show that he wasn't crazy and not be laughed at again. However, after seeing Everest's magical abilities, Burnish began to have second thoughts about capturing him. Then, when he saw Everest use hier powers to protect Yi, Jin, and Peng, along with recalling he saw a yeti protecting her children, Burnish realized his mistakes and ordered his men to not shoot Everest, only to be tranquilized by Dr. Zara. After Zara's defeat, Burnish apologizes to Everest and allows the kids to take Everest to the mountain and forces his goons to give overt their warm coats. In the end, he's shown to be on friendlier terms with the kids as he takes them home and sends them a package full of hiking equipment for their next adventure.
