Magic Light Celebration at NYICFF 2021

This year at the New York International Children's Film Festival celebrates the Magic Light Studio whose films frequently  win awards at NYICFF and other festivals.

ZOG AND THE FLYING DOCTORS (2021)
Zog the dragon flies Dr Princess Pearl and Gaddabout another doctor across the globe helping animals. Eventually Pearl has to use her skill to heal the king who has taken ill.

Frequently funny film explores the important theme that girls can do anything. Full of great sight gags the film will make you laugh out loud. 

As good as the film is it's a tad long at 25 minutes. There was one or two points where I just wished it would move a little faster. Do understand that I'm quibbling about the length since the reality is I'm just upset slower pace means there is a point where there jokes grow further apart.

Recommended

THE WHALE AND THE SNAIL
A Snail with an itchy foot wants to see the world so a whale takes him across the globe.

This is a beautiful tale of friends seeing the world is a visual spectacle. I can completely understand why this film has been take to heart by NYICFF audiences and those around the world.

If I were to quibble about the film  it would be the pacing of the film which gets a bit odd with what is largely a travelogue for most of its running time suddenly getting a plot in the final moments. While there is nothing wrong with what happens, how it is integrated into  the film makes it seem like an after thought. It isn't but how it just happens is.

Ultimately my quibble is meaningless since this film has some amazing sequences you just have to see.

The Legend of Hei (2019) NYICFF 2021

THE LEGEND OF HEI  is a mix of realistic, Ghibli-esque and cartoony designs in a tale of a bunch of guardians fighting against an evil foe.  Hei a shape changing supernatural being. He hooks up with a band of other beings like himself, nominally to protect the forest from invasion by evil humans and other beings. Of course everything is not what it seems, as Hei finds out. It isn't long before this has moments where it seems like Studio Ghibli's characters have been dropped into a combat film.

As good as some of the designs and set pieces are, I'm mixed on THE LEGEND OF HEI over all. 

Based upon a hit TV series that has spawned spin offs in various other media, THE LEGEND OF HEI is an origin story of sorts for the series (although one thing I saw said this is a re-invention of sorts).  And that is one of problems with the film.  Despite the fact that we are carried along by the images and the motion, there was always a sense that seeing this as a stand alone we are missing something. It had a feeling that gnawed at me until I did some research and discovered the series.  Reading on it I found that it filled in details of characters I thought were missing. While we are fine not knowing the back stories, having them improves the film. We know who some of the characters who flit by are.  To that end a couple of posts on various sites pondered how this was going to play for people who don't know the series or can't get the references to the myths, legends and stories it is lifting from.

The other problem with the film is that even without coming from another source, the film doesn't so much reference other animated projects so much as steal from them. The Ghibli references are so blatant that the only way not to see them is to wipe your brain from ever having seen any Ghibli films. I kept waiting for a Totoro to pop into one of the battles. There are merciless lifts of other cartoon and animated characters as well. And while the battle sequences have Chinese references in them they are largely the sort of thing that fill many animated series from Japan. As good as much of this is on its own terms, the lifts get in the way since we try to come up with hat it is borrowing from.

Ultimately though the question is how is THE LEGEND OF HEI on its own terms? If you can get past the fact its a spin off and lifts things from other sources, how is it? Truthfully it isn't bad. It delights the eye, moves at a good clip and has several sequences that truly impress. If you like animation that moves and keeps you interested until the end this film is for you.  Its a good enough film that anyone looking for another bit of "anime" for fall for is going to be delighted.

ADDENDUM: As I was tweeting the link to this piece I realized tat in a way this is a kind of near great film that just missed because we never get a sense of who some of the characters are.  If we knew the characters, especially some of the fleeting ones this would have been better. I say this because there are are few times when its clear the filmmakers are only playing to fans of the show.

Nahuel and the Magic Book (2020) NYICFF 2021

 Nahauel is a young boy living with his father in a coastal ton in Chile. His father is a fisherman, however Nahauel is afraid of the sea and will not go on the boat to help him. When the boy finds a magic book he uses one of the spells to give him courage. However a dark wizard who wants the book knows the boy has the book and he kidnaps his father so that he can trade him for the book. Hooking up with a young shaman and a wolf who was once human Nahauel sets off to rescue his father.

Sadly this film didn't work for me. Despite having some incredible sequences, beautiful animation and some great character design, the pacing doesn't work. Say what you will the film never seems to generate any real sustained suspense or feeling of danger. While never  bad I never felt compelled to watch every minute.

Your mileage may vary.

COLZA (2020) NYICFF 2021

 COLZA, screening NYIFF Short Films 2 and before THE LEGEND OF HEI is a stunner. The story of a bunch of lizard people in a family community at harvest time is as magnificent a looking an aniated film as I have seen in a long time. It is a film with a full realized world I would lve to see explored more fully in a feature film. 

Hell I would simply love to see a feature film by the same filmmakers about any subject if it looks and moves as wonderfully as this.

A must see where ever and however you can.

My Dad is A Heel Wrestler (2020) NYICFF 2021

Young Shota  doesn't know what his dad does for a living, and is shocked to discover that he is the masked wrestler called the Cockroach that everyone loves to hate. Shaken that is dad is a "bad guy" Shota with draws from his dad and lies to his friends. Is there a way for a good guy pretending to be bad can reconnect with his son?

Yes, yes there is and it is certain to be one f the most uplifting experiences of the year. 

One part father/son tale, one part wrestling redemption story, one part coming of age tale and one part feel good MY DAD IS A HEEL WRESTLER will make you laugh cry and scream at your TV. This is a glorious family film that hits all the right notes and never feels wrong in anything it does. In an age when "family" films are produced and packaged for maximum viewership and return for the producers MY DAD... feels genuine. This is a film that is coming from the filmmakers hearts not from a burning desire to make gobs of cash. While it all feels real, or as real as a wrestling centric family film can be. I was hooked  from start to finish because I genuinely liked everyone on screen and I never felt that I was being manipulated. 

I laughed, I cried, I desperately want to get myself a copy of this film because it made me feel so damn good.

Highly recommended, this is on my list of favorite films of the year.

(And note to those of you who love wrestling- the matches are awesome)

MY DAD IS A HEEL WRESTLER is playing at NYICFF through March 14th. Single films are $18 but the full fest is $40 so if you want to see more than one film buy the festival pass. For information go here

This years New York International Children's Film Festival hits Friday

Friday is the start of this year's New York International Children's Film Festival, one of the best fests in the world today. It is the one fest that I have been going to since it started.

How good is the festival? It is a festival that one year managed to pry some of the Ghibli Museum shorts from the hands of Hayao Miyazaki and run them for audiences in New York. The festival is so well programmed that it spun off G-Kids films to release the wonderful films they find every year. (Which has had one of their films in the Oscar mix every year since it was founded)

I love this festival to death.

And before you ask- no it's not just for kids-I know a lot of adults who go to the festival simply because the films they program are light years ahead of any other fest.

As some of you know the last weekend of the festival was canceled last year due to covid. This year that can't happen since all the screenings are virtual and run from Friday the 5th through the 14th with the films available at anytime (details here)

Normally at this point every year I say that I've seen most of the movies already and give you a brief list of the ones to see. That is not happening this year because I've only seen a couple of the features and officially a few of the shorts.  The reason for this is that this year I did not bother the festival for screening links because the festival is only virtual I wanted to have the sensation of actually going to the festival. (Though I wonder how they are going to do a T-shirt toss)

That said I have seen the following films:

CALAMITY
BEARS FAMOUS INVASION
A CAMP IN THE NIGHT HEEBIE JEEBIE

And with that I am going to direct you to the NYICFF website to buy lots of tickets and to say check back in order to see our reviews of the films we see.