O Menino e o Mundo

Wonderfully playful animation from Brazil in which a small boy experiences the dueling wonders and terrors of big city life for the first time. The artwork, clearly on showcase opposite a rather modest storyline, varies from light and expressive to rich and densely textured. It can be a real wonder to behold, especially during moments when the child's imagination takes over and the mechanical guts of an industrial zone become huge, towering, ignorant beasts. Virtually language-free (characters speak a made-up dialect once or twice), it's more universal for that decision and really doesn't need the crutch. Though it gets heavy-handed with environmental messaging late in the journey, the film rebounds nicely with an unexpected twist and brings a little mist to the eye for the final scene. An ambitious, often stunning peek at modern life, as seen through the disbelieving eyes we all shared at one time or another, and well worthy of the Oscar attention it received.

Sweet, beautiful, wordless animated film, telling the charming, endearing and sometimes sad story of a young boy from the country going in search of his father who has moved to the city to earn money for the family.

The film seems an attempt to see through a child's eyes, and it succeeds, leading to images that are surreal, wondrous and odd, and that don't always make literal sense. Imagine how the high tech modern world would seem to a small boy of say 5, wandering in alone from the countryside. The film captures that feeling

Done in a simple, colorful, handmade style that's the opposite of most computer animation we see these days, recalling artists like Joan Miro, there's a heartfelt quality that goes with the handcrafted nature of its slightly surreal and beautiful images. Truly universal, there's not a single word of real dialogue, just some occasional gibberish-speak. There's also great Brazilian music that changes personality with the boy's adventures, along with a nice lesson for kids about the loss of the beauty of nature in the industrial world. Quite special.

Boy and the World is best-enjoyed if seen for its visually-appealing and special imagery. The story line is simple and, in a way, universal: a young boy searching and longing for his father. Such a plot is juxtaposed with social commentary on automation, mass economy, advertising culture, and on dangers of a globalized market on the environment. It runs as neither a happy nor sad film, but in the interstitial spaces of change, loss, and ultimately, hope.

While pleasant to watch, the film came across as taking too long to make its main points: it felt it could have been more effective if shortened to 50 minutes or so. In addition, while interesting in its use of gibberish for language, the power of language seemed like wasted and lost. On that note, I am confident that words in this mostly silent but musical film would add for a powerful and memorable effect: would bring us closer to the heart and soul of characters, and their hopes.

Yet all in all, Boy and the World offers a pleasant weekend afternoon conveying both child and adult themes at once. It is best appreciated if watched by both an adult and a child, so the mixing between vivid visuals and critical message are discussed, and explored. The age group of 8-12 seems optimal for this film, with an accompanying teacher or adult to guide a discussion afterwards.

The boy is sadden when his father leaves on the train to find work in the big city. He goes off into the big world in search for his father.

This is a Brazilian animation nominated for an Oscar in 2015. The animation style is colorful stick figures. It has a very unique look. It doubles down by having limited rudimentary dialogue done in gibberish. I do wonder if this would function better as a short, maybe half hour. The theme does get deeper as it delves into globalization and modernization. It's a slow turn into this darker material that is most disconcerting. There is a reveal at the end about the boy and the father which is probably confused especially without dialogue. It could have been done straight forward.

Decades behind a computer, toiling and tinkering with the programming and software has given us the near-photographic realism of CGI animation. The culmination of which is the film Inside Out (2015) which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar this past year. Yet as anyone who truly loves animation will know, it's not about who has the most detailed techniques or the most expensive equipment. With great ideas and simple yet sublime stories, something as lo-fi as Boy and the World can move its audience to the core.

The story begins with a young boy (Garcia) who lives in a rural abode near the jungle. His father (Campos), a mustached man sporting a straw hat and a flute, grabs a suitcase and heads to the city. the boy is heartbroken by his father's sudden absence and decides to head to the city to find him. On his odyssey he meets a host of colorful characters and comes face to face with the seductiveness, absurdity and danger of modern life.

The animation is reminiscent of the work of Don Hertzfeldt. Everything is cobbled together with simple geometric shapes and seemingly done in charcoal and crayon. Yet unlike Hertzfeldt's work there isn't a sense of ruing existential doom; at its heart it is innately humanistic. Its simplicity and kaleidoscopic vision immediately strikes you with a sense of childlike wonder and as things in the story become more complex it washes over you in a flood of emotion and awe. The color palette in this film is so effective in rendering the wonder of the jungle, the bustling of the city and the rainbow-tinged weaving's of the Mestizo people that parade down the streets.

It's important to note that the movie is largely non-verbal. What is uttered is dubbed in backward Portuguese and the only guiding light you're given are the visuals and the soundtrack. And what a neat soundtrack it is! Grupo Experimental de Musica (GEM), Emicida, Nana Vasconcelos and the Bushdancers all somewhat obscure Brazilian bands that help the story gently flow through you. Not since the early work of Hayao Miyazaki has there been a more genuine work of youthful artistic expression and such a full spectrum of unfettered emotion.

A movie so deceptively simple and yet so emotionally complex comes around only once every few years, and an animation of this caliber comes round perhaps once in a generation. Some may not be hard won by it's environmental overtones and be contrarian to its thoughts on consumerism yet there's no denying that a story this human deserves attention and praise. Blink and you'll miss this little gem but if you can find it in theaters or (hopefully soon) on Netflix, I highly recommend it.