Mia and the Migoo (2008)

Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Morgan Bertsch, age 7. Video review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krL5oxIy9hEThis movie is a hand drawn cartoon from France. The voice overs were done twice, once in French and then in English. It is amazing that all the images were hand drawn. In order to really understand this movie and all it took to get this movie to the big screen you must watch the bonus features including the making of Mia and the Migoos. I am only seven which means it took them almost as long to make this movie as I have been alive. WOW! Six years of drawing, music, sound, voice overs and it is finally done. The art is amazing. The shadowing and colors are bright and happy and bring the characters to life. I could not imagine drawing ever frame of this movie by hand. Keeping this in mind while you watch it and you will see just how special this movie is. In a time of computers it is great to see people still using pencil, paper, ink and paint to create such a piece of art. The music is creepy and was created with a full orchestra and parts of the story are scary. So the music matches well. Perfect sound effects add to the believability and the attention to details they put into every picture is incredible. Mia has a dream that her Father is missing. When she wakes up she decides to go up to the mountains and see if she can find her lost father. He is trapped underground. Mia is fearless and has a spirit for adventure. She has a big heart but learns not to judge people by their looks alone. Along the way we meet many funny, strange and cute people and creatures. My favorite part was when Mia meets the Migoos.When she gets to the forest, she meets the scary Migoos who she discovers are not scary at all but funny and friendly. You can see through parts of them. They are able to get small and grow larger. There are many language differences so they have funny moments where they are trying to relate to Mia. It is the Migoos job to protect the tree of life. There are evil people out to destroy it. Does Mia find her father? Who finds out they have a heart after all? The ages are 6 and up I give it 4 twinkling stars. Be forewarned there is some bad language.

"Mia and the Migoo" is a charming and whimsical tale, that manages to avoid most of the clichés that commonly appear in this kind of stories.Basically, "Mia and the Migoo" is an ecological fable, that takes many elements present in the movies made by Hayao Miyazaki: A brave, yet calm heroine who is able to feel many things that others ignore; strange beings of ambiguous appearances and personality; the subtle treatment of themes such as the relationship of man and nature, and the family relationships as well...Of course, the final result is not at same level of complexity and beauty of the works of Hayao Miyazaki (Despite having many common elements and themes)However, even when this is not a masterpiece at same level of the productions of the Studio Ghibli, it is still pretty good, with a beautiful animation, charming and interesting scenes and good development of the story and the characters.My only complaint about "Mia and the Migoo" is that the ending feels somewhat rushed in comparison with the rest of the film...But despite that, I still enjoyed a lot this movie and I would recommend it to anyone.

Mia's dad is working on a cursed construction project in a haunted forest. Sensing something happened to him she heads off alone to see him. Along the way she meets a variety of weird and wonderful people, and the Migoo, a group of forest "spirits" tasked with guarding a tree at the heart of the world.This is a beautifully animated film seems to be a painting come to life. Its a visually rich and magical film to look at, producing repeated whispers of "Oh Wow" in the audience. Its truly a film with a look all its own.Unfortunately the story, which is magical and enchanting for just over two thirds of its running time kind of goes off the rails in the final third as the eco message at the heart of the story is sledgehammered home and the too many plot threads and characters are found to be going nowhere.Don't get me wrong I really liked most of this film, I just didn't like the sudden turn to into a sermon. The film was doing fine until it started to get preachy. (I won't get into the ending which is more a stopping rather than a conclusion since it leaves so much just hanging) Worth a look if you get a chance, but I'd wait for DVD.

Mia, a little girl living in a dying village decides to go and see her father Pedro, working miles away on a construction site. This site has seen a number of weird sabotage events. Pedro, trying to investigate, disappears in a tunnel collapse. Mia will have to brave many obstacles to reach her destination. This beautiful animation film will stay in my mind for a long time. It is an ode to nature and the responsibility of our generation and our children's. The starting scene with the Tree is breathtaking at the cinema. You quickly forget the crudeness of the drawings and get sucked into the story through the warm voices and music. In my opinion, children from 3 years old can see it but adults should be the ones to really listen to the messages. If you've seen the French film 'Les Ch'tis' you will recognise in the character Le Migou, the French accent from Northern France. Enjoy!