Campeonex

Funny and enjoyable movie about a bungling team of mentallity disabled players who try to win a national campionship and to become themselves the Spanish champions. It results to be a song for diversity, freedom, camaraderie and friendship. This time the team of "Champions (2018)" abandons basketball to enter by mistake the riveting world of athletics under the guidance of a novice coach. With the arrival of a rookie coach, who is not lucky, that's why Cecilia has a reputation for being jinxed, the team becomes involved into the complex world of athletics, and at the beginning things go wrong. Cecilia has to join the old group, Los Amigos or 'The Friends' and subsequently train the team of botcher mentallity disabled players. And her principal objective: to get again the competent team capable to win the Spanish league. The time has come to give a new opportunity all again, showing that friendship and camaraderie are the key to success. While the first outing dealing with the motley group atempting to win the basketball national championship, this second entry concerns the athletics along with video-games competitions.

¨Campeonex¨ is a pleasant, sentimental and amusing comedy that transmits energy and fine spirit. The likeable roles and agreeable script use bewildering incidents to give us an attractive flick and keeps you entertained for the almost 125 minutes that the film lasts. Following the diverting and hard preparatives of the bungler team formed by outlandish competitors and eventually the exciting final competing match. A 'good feel movie', which shows the desire to improve oneself, the enthusiasm and the positive attitude that the intimate protagonists of this attractive story have towards life. Javier Fesser once again makes all audiences laugh through a politically incorrect flick with this sequel to 'Campeones', the highest-grossing film of 2018. Following the success of the first installment, is made this sequel: ¨Campeonex¨ that became the highest-grossing film of 2023. The most part of the film concerns in the elaborate process to train them, including a great number of laughters, mayhem, disasters and confusion. Through a series of values, the film demonstrates that any goal, no matter how unattainable it may seem, can be achieved, regardless of the labels you want to assign to it. In 'Campeonex', new characters join the team, such as the famous video game streamer Breinetor, Elisa Hipólito, who plays the new trainer, Jelen García, a social integrator who works at the occupational center where the protagonists are housed. Main and support cast provide charming interpretations. Real starring is Elisa Hipólito, she is well accompanied by a good support cast as the veteran Juán Margallo who has the same significant role in both the first and this second part. Along with a nice plethora of secondaries, actually mentally disabled, and special mention for Jesús Vidal who previously won Goya award as best newcomer secondary actor.

Being well financed by important producers: Alvaro Longoria, Luís Manso and Lucrecia Botin of the Botin family, who previously produced 'Altamira'. The motion picture was competently written, producted and directed by Javier Fesser and it got 2 nominations for the 2024 Goya Awards. Fesser is a comedy and humor expert who has written and directed a few films and shorts, such as: ¨Mortadelo and Filemon contra Jimmy el cachondo or mission implausible¨, ¨The big adventure of Mortadelo and Filemon¨, ¨Candida¨, ¨Camino¨, ¨The miracle of P. Tinto¨. And shorts as ¨Invictus¨, ¨Bienvenidos¨ and ¨17 year together¨. Rating 6.5/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. Fun for the whole family.

The champions of Los Amigos win the final basketball match to become Spanish champions but are disqualified after one of their team member Sergio, steals the medals and runs away. They get banned for two years which leaves their coach to quit. Julio recruits a new coach Cecilia who is deemed as someone who brings in bad luck. Cecilia needs this job to graduate and with Julio's health deteriorating, the team becomes Cecilia's responsibility. As she tries to get Sergio back in the team, a series of mistakes committed by Cecilia, lands the team into a video gaming championship where it is both physical and psychological exercise. How do the team come together to win ultimately forms rest of the story.

It's a screenplay of convenience and the humor is spot on. To see the familiar faces whom I already fell in love with in the first film ensured to get invested in the narrative early on. For a film which is 2hrs long and a predictable screenplay, I simply couldn't feel the runtime as the director succeeded in bringing a new character Brian into the mix. This is what one would term as having the heart in the right place and though the virtual game rather looked forced, the cast continued to be heartwarming as the comedy ranged from decent to hilarious. I am going with a slightly strict rating but it still makes up for a decent follow up, if not as good as the first one.

This is a must see movie.

A 100% masterpiece.

This is one of the rare cases in which you don't need to know anything about the movie because is simply perfect.

The director/writer has achieved (again, as this is a sequel of campeones) to show the perfection of this nonperfect world, the excellence of good hearts, the greatness of living life as it comes and always with good humour, kindness and good intentions.

No matter the difficulties of life when you have a pure heart and join other people with good hearts too and never give up on your goals nor your principals.

If you want to enjoy the best side of human beings this is your movie.