Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang

I am reviewing another movie screening at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival (April 9 to 27) at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theater. So without further ado this is Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang.

We meet two brothers named Zip (Raúl Rivas) and Zap (Daniel Cerezo) being sent to summer school. The school is run by a man named Falconetti (Javier Gutiérrez) who always enforces the rules. Zip and Zap make friends at the school with a boy named Micro (Marcos Ruiz) and another boy named Filo (Fran García). Zap is often sent to a room called The Meditation Room for misbehaving. While inside he finds a bag of marbles. So Zip, Zap, and the others decide to make a secret club who will go around the school and pull pranks. The first prank is vandalizing a statue of the school's founder.  The next day, when Falconetti is having the statue cleaned he finds a map to some hidden diamonds.

The Marble Gang starts pulling ever more pranks until they get a message saying that someone knows who they are. So they go meet the mysterious person. It turns out that the person is Falconetti's niece Matilde (Claudia Vega) who is visiting. She asks if she can join the marble gang. They say no and then leave to put salt in the teacher's food. While doing that they see a hooded figure dumping toys into a pit. They are scared off by him.  The next day they find out that the hooded figure is a security guard. It also turns out that Matilde went back to put salt in the food. So they let her into The Marble Gang. They go see what is in the pit; it turns out that it is full of toys. They also find out that Falconetti is following the map to find diamonds. So they break into his office and make a copy of the map. They also find out that the school's founder Sebastian Hope (Álex Angulo) did like kids and having fun but Falconetti changed it when he took over.


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

They are trying to figure out the map but Falconetti finds out that they are the marble gang. So he sends them all to The Meditation Room. But it turns out that they need to start in The Meditation Room to find the treasure. They find a secret door. They go through some traps and make it to the treasure room. But it turns out that the treasure wasn't diamonds it was toys...why do I feel like I have seen this before? Anyway Falconetti locks them in the treasure room. But using another puzzle they escape and Falconetti is arrested for child endangerment. The End.



                                  ***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***


Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang is a great movie. The plot is really original. The cinematography and lighting is beautiful. The only thing I didn't like is that the plot is cliched at times. Other than than that this is one of the better family movies I have seen in a while.

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