3D animation is superimposed atop gorgeous nature photography in this dialogue-less, Finding Nemo-esque tale of a French ladybug who accidentally stows away to the Caribbean and his dad who sets off to find him.
Current advances in 3D animation technology may have ushered in a new Golden Age of pure cinema with the Miniscule films. Based on the popular French television series of computer-animated comic vignettes about the insect world, the directing duo of Helene Giraud and Thomas Szabo made their giant leap to the bug… er, big screen in 2014 with their debut feature, Minuscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants, about a young ladybug's adventures with two warring factions of ants at a picnic. This sequel, Mandibles From Far Away, expands the bugs' world to a global scale. When a ladybug gets caught accidentally in a box being shipped to the Caribbean, his father sets off on a Nemo-style transatlantic journey to rescue his son from the jungles of Guadeloupe and the island's exotic tarantulas, mantises, caterpillars, and other hungry creepy-crawlies. Shot with a combination of lush, live-action photography and manic 3D animation, Mandibles contains no dialogue or narration for its 92-minute length, relying entirely on sight gags and sound cues to tell the story—which could be a Discovery Channel nature doc seen through the colorful imagination of Chuck Jones. While the hyperkinetic hijinks are aimed mostly at kids, the film's humor is sophisticated enough to entertain viewers of all ages—and species. Recommended for all ages.
SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2019
AMC Pacific Place
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019
