PG
Starring Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate
Written and Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez
The Story:
Best friends Manolo (Luna) and Joaquin (Tatum) grow up as rivals for the adorable Maria (Saldana). As grown men, the rivalry continues. The relationship catches the eyes of some supernatural beings (Perlman & Applegate) who make a wager on which man will win Maria's hand. When trickery comes to play however, not even death can stop true love and Manolo embarks on a journey of a lifetime.
From the company that brought you Free Birds...
I know, that sentence alone had me very worried as well, as I found that movie to be rather on the boring side of things...
But they fixed my complaint from that movie, which was a rather poor storyline, with a much tighter narrative, and now I'm pleased to say that this has been one of the better animated films I've seen this year.
I never had a problem with their animation, most animation studios are really killing it in terms of look and feel of their films.
Reel FX goes the extra mile on this film as many of the characters look wooden and have puppet joints. The care and attention that went into the work is nothing short of amazing to watch.
A voice cast of names, but aside from the always superb Danny Trejo, I think you'll be hard pressed to feel that the "name" overpowers the voice, and you may be wondering who the cast really is during and after the movie has concluded.
I was expecting to be disappointed going into this one as it pretty much bombed in theaters.
Instead, I'm more disappointed that unless it has Disney or Pixar on the banner, families are staying away from most other animated fare unjustly.
Final Grade: B+
