Michael's Movie Grade: C+
An enjoyable animated family film from Spain.
This movie has quite a bit in its favor. The main characters are quite likable. Their personalities may not be complex, but we do get to quickly like and find these characters easy to relate to. Why we should like them is set up well from the beginning. For our main male character, we have what is mostly a slapstick comedy scene but one that ends with him giving his own groceries to a lady, after accidently destroying hers and not complaining one bit. This is a little moment, but on that sets up the character very well. We see that beneath his ego and how he outwardly seems to be looking out for number one, he truly has a good heart. With our female character, we quickly see how despite her rebelling against her father, she does really care about him. The villain may also not be complex, but he is the type of over the top cartoony villain that is simply fun to watch anyway. The story, while not original, moves by at a fast pace and the hour and a half is done before you know it. It also does its job and hits each of the notes it needs to. The comedy may not be laugh out loud hilarious but it worked quite well and made me smile quite a few times. Plus there were very few jokes that really fell flat. While this is definitely a lower budget animated movie, it looks quite nice. It may not be Disney or Dreamworks, but it is nice to look at. The songs are not especially memorable but they are pleasant to listen to and do a good job moving the story forward.
However this film is very similar to many other animated family movies and because of that it is one that you probably won't remember well a couple years from now. Also because of this familiarity, you can easily figure out how the story is going to end, while it is still being set up. Also as much as I liked the main characters, the supporting cast comes off as really bland and boring.
This is not a great film or a new animated classic by any means but it does its job and provides you with a nice trip to the movies.
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