AninA

Over the next several weeks I will be reviewing films premiering at KIDS TIFF (April 9 to 21) playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theater. I'd like to thank the organizers at TIFF for giving me the opportunity to advance screen some of their movies. For my first movie I shall be reviewing AninA. It is based on the book Anina Yatay Salas by Sergio López Suárez.






The movie starts with a girl named Anina Yatay Salas (Federica Lacaño) going to school. All the kids at her school make fun of her because all three of her names are palindromes (words that are spelled the same forwards and backwards). At school Anina gets in a fight with another girl named Yisel (Lucía Parrilla). They both get in big trouble. The next day Anina and her father (César Troncoso) go to the principle's office. The principle (Cristina Morán) gives Anina and Yisel a weird punishment. She gives them each an envelope and tells them not to open it until one week has passed.

At first she is very curious about what is inside the envelope. But she doesn't want to get in trouble so she tries to open Yisel's envelope. Unfortunately she can't get close enough to Yisel so she gives up. When she get's home Anina's neighbors give her mother (María Mendive) a book on discipline, but Anina's mother rejects it. The teacher in Anina's class gives Anina and Yisel the job of taking inventory of the first aid kit. When Yisel leaves to find a teacher Anina looks in Yisel's backpack for the envelope. Instead she finds a bunch of postcards from Australia.






          ***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

It is the day before she can open the envelope. Anina finds more about the postcards from Australia. Apparently, Yisel's father works in Australia and he always sends her postcards. That night Anina has a nightmare about the envelope and that it gets opened. When she wakes up it turns out that she opened the envelope in her sleep. Not only that, but the envelope is empty. She goes to school and presents it to the principle.But she is not mad at her. She said that she did this so she would become better friends with Yisel. She also tells Anina and Yisel to put a gift in the envelope and give it to the other. Anina lives a happier life with new friends. The End.




                                           ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***




AninA is a very good movie. It has very relatable characters and a good moral. Anina also has these little fantasies like imagining that she is a drop of oil. In fact, it kind of reminds me of Calvin's fantasies in Calvin and Hobbs. But the best aspect is the animation. It has a very stylized look to it. That looks flat but very three dimensional. Also something interesting that I found is that when Anina has a flashback the style of animation changes. I could go on and on about the animation but I have to keep going. The only bad thing I can think of is that in the middle a lot of stuff goes on and it doesn't seem to have a main focus. Other than that this is probably one of my favourite films.

WORLDS WORST SALESMAN U. N. TRUSTWORTHY