Birdboy: The Forgotten Children

This is an incredible, gorgeous, and brutal movie. You won't regret watching it.

It's hard to watch this film and finish it and think of any other that is similar to it. Truly, a very unique piece of animation that ventures into the horror category in ways films like Coraline (which could be deemed as "animated horror) did not. The voice acting is amazing and expressive, and the animation does so much to really portray this very unique and distinct voice. This is surely a film that needs to be seen and congratulated.

I recently was lucky to grab a seat in it's limited English release in NYC and I'm very glad I went out of my way to watch it. NYC theaters are loud and responsive, it spoke well of this film that the audience grew quiet and attentive 20 minutes in. While the film has it's comedy and of course features solely animated animals, it reaches amazing depths and tells a fully entertaining and visually captivating story. There is nothing immature or young about this film. The animation is wonderful and feels wholly original without shoving style into your face. The writing is superb and crisp, never feeling heavy handed nor childish. Each character has its own story, even if you don't get to see it, you feel their story through their design and dialogue. I was amazed to learn this was the two directors first feature length film, and while it is based on Vasquez's own comic (which explains their talent in story telling and character development) the ability to translate the story to a fully engaging film. I'm very excited to see what comes out of this team in the future.

Bird Boy: The Forgotten Children (2015) is a Spanish animated picture based on a graphic novel and is currently available on Shudder. The storyline follows a world where animals walk and talk and some horrific events have taken place historically. The Bird Boy is known to be a menace by the local law enforcement but not everyone thinks so, and everyone would love to see and find him, for better or worse. Meanwhile, Bird Boy has his own inner demons and depression he's trying to overcome while keeping the woodlands safe. As Bird Boy looks for hope society looks to destroy him.

This movie is codirected and co-written by Pedro Rivero (directorial debut) and Alberto Vázquez (Unicorn Wars). Vázquez also wrote the graphic novel. NOTE: this movie is in subtitles. The storyline, settings and characters are unique and really capture the imagination. The dialogue is deep and smart as is the depiction of the various characters, their perspectives and inner demons. Seeing smoking 🚬 animals definitely had me cracking up. Every scene with the crow and spider was intense and well done. The backstory on Bird Boy was sad but entertaining and the various shooting and killing scenes were excellent. The use of the mice and the entire ending was perfectly done.

Overall, this contained the darkness and entertainment value of a Tim Burton film...but in Spanish. I would score this a 9/10 and strongly recommend it.

I don't know what to write. Just watch it... It is a bit too dark maybe, our world is (still) not that bad, still not inhabitat that much by the demons in our head.

Reviews say that this is not for kids. They are right, it is already hard for a caring grow up to watch. But if there would be less violence shown in the movie, I am sure many kids would love and understand this movie, because all kids wants to enjoy life and doesn't like parents that seem to care about you but instead act like an Matrix agent. And kids like nature, because they don't have self-hatred.

The film although represents world without hope, has a good message. It says: 'You can not solve the problems by running from them, there is always happiness and beauty within where you live. Just find it and spread it.