Chico & Rita

As a big animation fan, I loved Chico and Rita, one of the most beautiful and most unique films I have seen recently. I also didn't care much for Estrella Morente, but that wasn't enough to be a massive problem. The film has one of the most unique visual styles I've seen not just in recent memory but perhaps even ever, and it looks gorgeous. Everything from the colours, sceneries and colours are rich in detail and beautiful on the eyes. Chico and Rita is a very musically rich film as well, with Cuban and Jazz music providing so much character to the atmosphere. The two titular characters are likable and engaging, the screenplay is good if nothing completely mind-blowing and the story is very touching. In conclusion, a wonderful film, animated or not. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The new animated romance Chico and Rita follows the relationship of two young Cuban musicians: Chico is a gifted piano player looking to bring the sound of Havana to New York; Rita is a beautiful singer who treads the precarious path between Latin musicians and white investors looking to cash in on the popularity of this new music. Like all star crossed lovers, their journey is not an easy one – their musical and romantic tribulations will continue over 60 years against the striking backdrops of Havana, New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas.

The real strength of the film is its ability to portray a classic love story in both an innovative, sensual and sensitive way. The syncopated grace of Cuban Jazz combines with a disarmingly child-like animation to create a sparkling tribute to 1940s and 50s Havana culture.

The film exudes real passion for both the music of the period and the locations of the film, beautifully re-crafted within the animated landscape. The Cuban sound is brought to life with a truly uplifting assortment of records, including classics from Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and Thelonius Monk. Like the heady improvisation of a be-bop trumpeter, this film bounces between soft melody and excited fragmentation, always bursting to give the audience something new and exciting.

Yet this does not mean that the film is purely for Jazz aficionados – the affection that directors Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba bring to their work ensures that this film doesn't become simply a musical tribute aimed at a conceited minority. The scale of the narrative will leave you breathless, and yet the story is all told through the seemingly innocent hand of traditional cartoon animation. In a post-Pixar world, this kind of hand-drawn animation has gained a retro charm all of its own. Chico and Rita is a delicate reminder that genuine action and emotion can still be expressed without the pixellated glossiness of CGI.

Chico and Rita really succeeds in bringing the colour and vibrancy of early 50s Havana back to life – from the delightfully evocative soundtrack, to the re-telling of a classic love story through the medium of hand-drawn animation, the film is a fitting expression of the vision and compassion of its creators.

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As Brad Bird of Pixar fame has said, animation is not a genre, but an art form. Chico & Rita is an artfully made romantic drama that captures the hearts and imaginations of its audience through its storytelling as much as its animation. By turns reflective and reactive, this is a cosmopolitan saga of two lovers' struggle to find themselves and each other. The key notes of jealousy, passion and ambition set the story in a minor key, while the action moves with the syncopated beats of a mambo. The dialog is sharp and smart. Adults will appreciate the nuances of this excellent script. Love hurts, and the movie's main characters creatively express their bittersweet experiences with the virtuosity and greatness of the stars that they orbit and shine alongside. More of a character than a soundtrack, the music is evenly folded into the movie, as is the tension between the lovers. I wonder if people who go to see Chico & Rita only for the animation might possibly be disappointed, since it is less squash and stretch and more gouache and sketch. But the animation does convey the moods and emotions of the characters whilst taking us on a thrilling ride through dizzying cinematic vistas. The colours and lighting are somewhat stepped, but have an illustrative verisimilitude, that provides a convincing variety of bold panoramas and atmospheric interiors. Still, if you didn't like Waking Life or Belleville Rendezvous merely because of the flickering and the occasional detached 3D elements, then you may find watching this movie similarly distracting. I think that the story is compelling enough and the musical and visual elements such a treat that anyone willing to look beyond the animation is rewarded with the best that cinema can offer.

Too much has been made of the animated films that DIDN'T get an Oscar nod ("Cars 2" Really? REALLY?) and not enough attention has been paid to the two foreign films that DID earn a nod - "A Cat in Paris" and "Chico & Rita." I reviewed "A Cat in Paris" after screening it at last year's San Francisco International Film Festival, and was pleasantly surprised to see it on the list. Check out my review and you'll see I think it deserves its spot.

Having just screened "Chico & Rita," I can tell you that the Academy did right by this film as well. Not quite computer animation and not quite rotoscoping, the process of animating this film is too damn complicated for me to explain.

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The title characters are Cuban artists. He's a musician/composer, she's a sultry singer. They both are chasing dreams - artistic and human. Their journey begins in Havana and makes stops in New York, Paris, and, ultimately, Las Vegas. It's a journey worth taking.

"Chico & Rita" has a unique look, with vibrant colors that compliment a terrific soundtrack of jazz greats. The voice work is spot-on, and the voice artists have the advantage of having a solid - though, to be honest, a wee bit clichéd - story to tell about adults for adults.

I hesitate to write that, as the first thing that comes to mind when you link "adult" and "animation" is Ralph Bakshi / "Fritz the Cat." This film does have sexual content, but it is not exploitative in any way. It is truly an animated film for the adult mind.

What a nice surprise (and a well deserved one,) if either of the two foreign film entrants in this category were to hear their names called from an Oscar envelope. "Puss in Boots?" Really? REALLY?

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Chico & Rita follows Chico, an old and retired Cuban pianist, as he remembers his impossible love with a jazz singer called Rita and his rise and fall as a music performer. Having taken four years to make, Chico & Rita is first and foremost visually mind-blowing. Its animation is as nothing you have seen before and the cinematography, the lights, the angles, the music, just everything related to the technical aspect of this film is absolutely perfect.

But what's best and most refreshing about this film is its old-fashioned love story. In a time where all romantic films try to be as realistic as possible, it seems unthinkable to watch a relationship like this unfold on screen. Following a bolero-like structure, the main characters fall in love as easily as they fall apart, but they never forget each other, having an outdated loyalty that is deserving of such all-time classics as Casablanca or Gone With The Wind, and ending in the brilliant and moving bittersweet final scene.

Jazz music plays a main role in the film and gets to be the third character in what we could call a love triangle between the jazz, Chico and Rita. The two title characters are extremely talented musicians that are sometimes in the position of having to choose between their lover or their musical success and fame. Real jazz performers, such as Charlie Parker or Tito Puente get enjoyable cameos in the film and, practically, all the performances in the film are very delightful and entertaining.

Although the film has some minor elements that prevents it from being a masterpiece, like the appearance near the end of Estrella Morente, they are so insignificant compared to the whole of the film that Chico & Rita is still an exceptional film appealing to an extremely large audience.

Chico & Rita is an animated old-fashioned musical romance with a highly original aesthetic, a both refreshing and outdated love story and sublime original and adapted music.

Rating: 4.5/5.