Coleção Cine Gibi

The film mixes animation and live action, with cameo of celebrities (not really the most interesting ones, and actually one of them is despicable...). It begins with a preamble with a tribute to cinema, which has very nice parody ideas with Mônica's Gang characters (indeed, it is the best part of the whole movie), but in a videoclip style, very fragmented and undevelopped (as a sequence of parodies, and not a proper story, similarly to what Maurício de Souza interestingly also made with famous paintings and sculptures, making Mônica Lisa and other works). The stories here are a little silly, clearly directed to children and with little interest for adults even though they grew up reading Mônica's Gang comic strips. There are few nice gags, and no charming moment (except for the aforementioned tribute to cinema, although having a vampirized Mônica or a monster-Sansão is not trivial, I must admit). Franjinha creates an invention that transforms comic stories into films, and basically the movie presents different uninspired segments, interwined with the live action cameos and sponsor merchandising.

One of the best things of this movie is that, like the original comics, it was made specifically for the younger audiences. It follows some of the classic comic magazine stories, mostly unknown to the new generation, as they were printed a while back, and gives it life for everyone to enjoy. To the little ones, it's a funny wild romp into new stories with the beloved Monica's gang - to the older audiences it's a fun new look at the stories many of us remember coming out originally in the form of a comic.

When I heard a new movie was being made for the Gang, I was excited but a little wary; after all, a full length feature for the comic had never been done with live actors mixed in before... what if that ruined the movie? As it turns out, the additions of the live actors were very sensibly put and well done and I found them rather enjoyable...