Film Review: 2016 Animated Feature Oscar Nominee ‘Boy & the World’

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Average: 5 (4 votes)

CHICAGO – If the 2016 Oscar nominations are examined a bit more closely, some real gems can be found. In the Best Animated Feature Category, beyond the familiar nomination of “Inside Out,” there is an offering from Brazil entitled “Boy & the World.” The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago is screening “Boy & the World” through February 11th, 2016.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Boy & the World” is a combination of simple line figure drawing through a colorful kaleidoscope of landscape and fantastical story settings. There is a boy going through this arena, in search of a father who has left the Eden he once shared with his son and mother. The writer and director Alê Abreu bites off a lot of themes – technology, urban identity, environmental issues and loss – and creates a hyperbolic world for that boy to explore. This is a big screen treat, with many animated indulgences, which becomes more of a sensation than even the story. This film has been around for a couple of years, and slowly rose through the miasma of animated features to earn the Oscar nomination, because this is a cartoon that reflects both the artist and his cultural radar.

The film opens with a boy exploring his home boundaries, which is a paradise of blue streams, colorful forests and animal friends. His revelry is interrupted when his father is shown leaving the homestead for parts unknown. This loss affects the boy greatly, and he packs a suitcase to find his Dad. Like Dorothy going over the rainbow, the boy finds himself whisked away to another land, one that includes a mechanized orchard of workers, the factory where the fruit of their vines are processed and the urban jungle that contains it. The search for his father is through this thicket.

“Boy & the World” has a limited release, including Chicago – at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street – through February 11th, 2016. Click here for details. Featuring the voices of Vinicius Garcia, Felipe Zilse and Marco Aurélio Campos. Written by Alê Abreu. Rated “PG

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Boy & a World”

Boy World
Hanging Out in ‘Boy & the World’
Photo credit: Gkids

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Boy & a World”

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