Ela Disse, Ele Disse (2019)

Ela Disse, Ele Disse: Directed by Claudia Castro. With Bianca Andrade, Giulia Ayumi, Marcus Bessa, Pedro David. Rosa (Duda Matte) is dedicated to study; Leo (Marcus Bessa) is a good soccer player. She is always on time, he is always late. She hates Julia (Maisa), the most popular girl in high school; he kind of likes her. They are both new students at school and, besides learning how to deal with new friends and family problems, they find out that they have much more in common than they thought. They discover that growing up may seem and feel complicated, but deep down it’s a great adventure. Based on the successful book by Thalita Rebouças.

“If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen I think of 2D animation, I imagine beautiful tales told through a unique drawing style that allows for more expressiveness and clear emotions. I remember the recent Wolfwalkers, which was one of my favorite films of 2020. I expected Cryptozoo to follow a similar formula, boasting bright messages regarding the worldu0026#39;s treatment of nature, animal cruelty/exploration, excessive hunting, and of course, discrimination based on someoneu0026#39;s appearance. With all of this said, I never anticipated such a shocking, violent, *bloody* depiction of what looked like a fun adventure that parents could show their children.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnless your kids are all grown-up by now, I do NOT recommend showing this movie to them. I donu0026#39;t write this with a negative tone. Please, donu0026#39;t misinterpret my words. Dash Shaw develops his original concept in an unconventional yet captivating manner in an attempt to educate the viewers through visually brutal sequences, which I must leave a disclaimer for sensitive people. The social commentary is evident and meaningful, but itu0026#39;s preached in such an unnecessarily explicit way that it negatively impacts me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough the ending partially compensates for this next issue, I donu0026#39;t really agree with most of the main characteru0026#39;s motivations. Lake Bell offers wonderful voice work as the protagonist, Lauren Grey, as does everyone else in the cast. Nevertheless, it genuinely bothers me that Lauren couldnu0026#39;t understand what sheu0026#39;s doing wrong until everything explodes in front of her face. I found it nearly impossible to truly root for any character, excluding all the cute animals, which actually leads me to end this review on a positive note.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEven though the style of animation is confusing during certain action scenes, itu0026#39;s still incredibly engaging and one of the main reasons why I felt captivated until the very end. As an animal lover and firm believer of their rights myself, I must show appreciation and gratitude towards the filmu0026#39;s ending, which undoubtedly transmits the best possible message concerning the animal kingdomu0026#39;s freedom. The last few minutes are even more elevated by the fact that it carries so many other critical taboo subjects developed throughout the runtime, which ends up educating audiences in the most simple of ways. Beautiful score by John Carroll Kirby.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCryptozoo is undoubtedly one of the most shockingly violent 2D animated movies Iu0026#39;ve ever seen… and I write this both as a compliment and a disclaimer to sensitive viewers. Dash Shaw delivers what might be one of Sundanceu0026#39;s most divisive films both due to its visual content and its narrative/character choices. The voice work from the entire cast deserves praise, namely Lake Bell, but the characters everyone portrays are extremely hard to root for or even agree with their motivations. Despite the ending fixing this major problem, the entire movie revolves around a mission and a purpose that not only I believe itu0026#39;s wrong, but the main character should have also realized her dream was not going to work as soon as she explains it out loud. The hand-drawn animation is slightly confusing at times, but it elevates an overall tricky film to analyze. Iu0026#39;ll take the essential messages concerning nature, animals, and even discrimination with me, and I hope everyone else does too.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRating: C+”