El lince perdido

Ripping off the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, "The Missing Lynx" tells the tale of a group of animals trying to outwit a rich man named Noah and the hunter he hires to capture them and put them on a huge ship to save their species from extinction. Essentially, this was lacking on virtually every front. The animation of the characters was of poor quality by today's standards, the story itself failed to hold either my attention or my 6 year old daughter's (she was sound asleep long before it was over and I was asleep on and off throughout) and it was almost completely lacking in what I would think is essential in any children's movie - charm. The characters aren't at all memorable, and also unlike virtually every other children's movie, there are absolutely no memorable musical pieces. It doesn't come close to rivalling any of the animated features that have become so common in recent years.

This is a cute animated tale. It's about a clumsy Spanish lynx and his friends who are stolen from an animal rehabilitation shelter by an eccentric man who wants to help these endangered animals, but is going about it all wrong - including hiring a trophy-hunting poacher to help him capture the animals. The jinxed lynx and a few others escape and try to rescue the other animals.

The animation was good, nothing special (it's not a big budget film), but no obvious problems, either. The voice casting was average and I didn't recognize the voices - I guess the original was in Spanish, I don't know because I watched it on Netflix Play Instantly and it only has an English version available - so everyone had British accents. The characters were very good, funny, and likable. The humor was good (no stupid fart jokes) and I'd expect it would be a good family film. It was pretty fast-paced and had a lot of action scenes; some scenes may be scary for young children.

Overall, the message was good, but did have some flaws. The animal shelter was a positive place where animals could be rehabilitated and then released to the wild. However, I'm not sure that the whole "what good is it to be alive if you're not free" idea is environmentally sound. There are some species that are so critically endangered that captive breeding programs are the ONLY way to preserve the species.

As has been said by me many times, am a huge fan of animation. Always have been, always will be, so naturally will see any animated film regardless of age, how high budget or not it is and the studio/director it comes from.

There are far better animated films than 'The Missing Lynx', naming them however would be unfair but many are likely to put forward the best of Disney and Pixar. There are also infinitely worse, at least with 'The Missing Lynx' some effort was put into it which is more than can be said with far more amateurish efforts from Video Brinquedo and Spark Plug Entertainment. It's not a great film but there are far worse ways to waste one's time.

It does have some nice detailed backgrounds and some vibrancy in the colours. It has a peppy soundtrack that gives the film energy. While the characters hardly have depth, the protagonists have likable charm and there are a few amusing side characters.

Children and adults will find things to enjoy in 'The Missing Lynx', more so children because while adults shouldn't find it a struggle the flaws will be more apparent. Children will like the innocent humour and the lively action as well as the protagonists and side characters, while the adults may admire the good intentions of the environmental message, that thankfully isn't as preachy as one would think and that it does try to have an emotional connection.

However, not all the animation is great. Some of the colours are flat but it's the blocky character designs and their stiff movements that fare weakest. The story is too simple and too much of a patchwork of derivative elements except executed in an inferior way.

Some of the writing similarly misfires, especially in its tendency to inexplicably over-explain. There is nothing to be confused by here for younger audiences and they will have no problem keeping up, so the over-explaining really wasn't necessary. While the protagonists and side characters fare decently, the villains are too much like stock caricatures and could have been more threatening. A lot of the voice acting is wooden and some of it is also mismatched.

In summary, 'The Missing Lynx' is alright but nothing special. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The Missing Lynx is a fantastic film about a group of animals who have to outwit an eccentric millionaire and a vicious hunter he hires to capture them. It was originally released theatrically in Spain in December 2008 and finally released on Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) DVD/Blu-ray in July 2010. This movie has great characters, and a lot of action, humor, and heart. Even though it's produced by a small, independent studio, it's right on par with films from major Hollywood CGI studios like Pixar, Blue Sky, and DreamWorks. Hopefully they'll make a sequel and a TV series. If you buy this movie, you will not regret it!

This is a good animation movie. The characters are well done, the animation works fine and is also well illuminated. The humans characters design are similar to others we had seen in other movies, but well animated. Lot of action, and nice scenes. In the original version (Spanish) the jokes were OK, not the usual easy humor for kids, so isn't boring for adults. And the most important thing is the Story. Remember you about the imprisioned animals (like in Madagascar) and presents you a wild cat, the Spanish Lynx: Pardel or Iberian Lynx, which is a endangered animal.

For all these reasons I will recommend to everyone this movie, not a must see but a nice animated Story to watch with the kids or with everyone who loves animals.