[MY LIFE AS A
ZUCCHINI opens in Friday March 24th in Akron at The Nightlight Cinema.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
There's an unfortunate notion in America, perhaps not as
prevalent as it used to be but still fairly widespread, that animated films are
for kids. Certainly many are, and that's fine. But they need not always be, and
in fact in other countries animation is frequently used to tell more adult
stories. Just ask any fan of Japanese anime.
But Japan isn't the only country to make animated films with
more mature subject matter.
MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI
hails from France. It's not a kid's film, but not quite what most viewers would
think of as an "adult" film (I mean that in the grown-up sense, not
the X-rated one), either. The closest easy comparison for American audiences
might be the "Young Adult" genre of literature. Something along the
lines of a Judy Blume book for teens that deals frankly and honestly with
subject matter some parents might find uncomfortable.
The film begins with 9 year-old Zucchini accidentally
causing the death of his alcoholic mother. He's placed in an orphanage with
other problem kids by a kind-hearted police officer who continues to check up
on the boy. Contrary to what one expects from cinematic orphanages, this one is
actually not too bad. The people who work there are nice, and the kids form a
sort of surrogate family. Despite having some pretty heavy baggage to deal
with, they're more or less content.
Problems arise, however, when it seems as if one of the
orphans, a girl Zucchini likes named Camille, will be taken away to live with
her cruel Aunt.
MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI
utilizes a stop motion animation process similar to what the folks at Aardman
(The Wallace and Grommet/CHICKEN RUN
folks) use, only uglier and less whimsical. That fits the overall tone of the
film, which is melancholy but peppered with humor. It deals with some pretty
awful things issues that, sadly, affect the lives of some real kids. And yet,
without minimizing how bad those things are, the movie never feels like a
depressing wallow. If anything, it's kind of upbeat in the way it shows these
damaged kids finding happiness in spite of everything.
I won't tell you if your kids should or shouldn't see this
movie. I let my 6-year-old watch ALIEN,
so I'm probably not the best judge on that kind of thing, anyway. I'll just say
that the film is rated PG-13, and in my opinion that's a legitimate rating.
There are some pretty heavy ideas being dealt with here; some kids may be ready
for that, others may not. There is no nudity or violence, but as mentioned
before, there is frank talk about sex, and about kids living in abusive
situations.
What I can tell you is that this is an excellent film, and
while I enjoyed ZOOTOPIA, which won this
year's "Best Animated Feature", and really enjoyed KUBO AND THE
TWO STRINGS, if there were any justice, MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI would have taken home the statue. 4 out of 4
stars.
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