Boy & the World

Just as the images expand from very basic, hand drawn stick figures to collages and finally film images, so, too, does the simplistic capture of a very small boy encountering an expansive natural world soon enlarges into a treatise on industrialization, militarization and environmental distruction. Colourful animation. Music as life & hope. Fanciful adventures. The simplicity conveying a depth of meaning. However, I fell asleep around 55 minutes into it (then woke up and watched the rest of the DVD). Nominated for a 88th Academy (presented in 2016) Animation Oscar, this film has gained a lot of critical and audience applause. I, however, give the film a 6 (fair) out of 10. Though touching in places, it carried too laboured a burden and lost my attention. [Animated Documentary]

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.