{"id":107632,"date":"2025-10-31T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/107632\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:33:07","slug":"first-stop-motion-movie-from-mexico-is-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/107632\/","title":{"rendered":"First Stop-Motion Movie From Mexico Is Winning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor its painstaking physicality alone, stop-motion is inherently impressive as an animation technique, no matter the scale or budgetary specifics of the project. But when artists, like those behind the ambitiously crafted phantasmagorical musical \u201cI Am Frankelda<\/a>,\u201d throw caution to wind to build an imposing universe to animate frame by frame, one can\u2019t help but feel in utter awe \u2014 warts and all.<\/p>\n

\n\tGothic sets with baroque architecture \u2014 that not only catch the eye but prompt one to wonder how they were conceived \u2014 serve as the backdrop to the similarly ornate puppets in the first stop-motion feature fully produced in Mexico (Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Oscar-winning \u201cPinocchio\u201d was only partially made in the director\u2019s home country). Through their studio Cinema Fantasma, brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz first introduced their morbid heroine in the series \u201cFrankelda\u2019s Book of Spooks\u201d for HBO Max back in 2021. This feature-length film serves as a prequel to that show, diving into the origins of Frankelda\u2019s bond with her sentient book and romantic interest Herneval, when he was still an otherworldly royal. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAn orphan child dreaming of becoming a writer in 19th century Mexico, the young Francisca Imelda (voiced as a kid by Habana Zo\u00e9), crafts frightful stories and characters, including Herneval (Juan Pablo Monterrubio), a prince her age in the Realm of the Spooks, an alternative reality inhabited by all her fictional creations. However, Herneval\u2019s extravagant kingdom, the Topus Terrentus, is at risk of disappearing because people in the real world are no longer afraid of fiction. Human fear, similar to how \u201cMonsters Inc.\u201d operates, is the lifeblood of \u201cthe spooks\u201d (which come in two races, one birdlike and one arachnid).<\/p>\n

\n\tFrontloaded with the extensive mythology and the mechanics of this storytelling realm, \u201cI Am Frankelda\u201d can feel a bit dense narratively, yet its many visual pleasures continually mesmerize. Every space looks lovingly handcrafted, often making us aware of the materials used in their arduous confection. Viewers expecting the pristine aesthetic and movement of the works of outfits like Laika or Aardman might find the animation here less fluid and the production design slightly less polished. But considering the Ambriz siblings undertook such an elaborate story involving supernatural puppets and a fantastical land, presumably for a fraction of the cost, the result is major step forward for the medium, and in particular this technique in Mexico. If \u201cgo big or go home\u201d was a movie, this fits the bill.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisillusioned with the rejection she faces in her life, when Francisca Imelda enters the Realm of the Spooks, now 10 years older but still an unpublished author, she reinvents herself as Frankelda (now voiced by Mireya Mendoza). Among the bevy of ostentatiously designed figures, there\u2019s also a pack of antagonists, namely Procustes (Luis Leonardo Su\u00e1rez), the royal \u201cnightmarer\u201d and a mediocre writer in charge of penning human nightmaresm, as well as the leaders of the kingdom\u2019s seven clans, a bevy of villainous monsters designed to resemble folktale entities. To save his ailing parents and his subjects both from this treasonous bunch and from oblivion, adult Herneval (Arturo Mercado Jr.) needs Frankelda to write scary stories.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat the jealous Procustes aims to take credit for her work, ties in with the overarching themes of \u201cI Am Frankelda,\u201d namely the belief that in writing fiction Frankelda takes the reins of her life and finds the empowerment that external forces denied her for being a woman in the male-dominated field of dream creation. It\u2019s the power of her pen that will save her in the end. As is often the case with bifurcated tales unfolding between two distinct planes of existence, the characters in the Realm of the Spooks, also have their matching counterparts in Frankelda\u2019s reality. Through it all, the specifically colloquial quality of the dialogue and the delivery of the vivacious voice cast preserves the film\u2019s Mexican identity.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of two showstopping numbers takes place when Frankelda first crosses over and reconnects with Herneval. The two sail on a ship that appears inspired by alebrijes (vibrant sculptures of imagined creatures) and sing the track \u201cYo Ya Hab\u00eda Estado Aq\u00fai\u201d (\u201cI Had Already Been Here\u201d), as ghostly hands mimic fog. Invoking \u201cA Whole New World\u201d from Disney\u2019s \u201cAladdin\u201d with a more pronounced operatic mood, the song\u2019s emotion straddles a yearning for discovery, and a realization that she knows this place well (she materialized it from her imagination after all). For this sequence, the Ambriz brothers transcend stop-motion and add flourishes that remind the viewer of the film\u2019s tactile conception: A pop-up story book depicting the scene and glass figures representing Frankelda and Herneval appear as a sort of visual interlude as they belt.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater, once the palace intrigue is in full swing and Frankelda and Herneval experience an emotional schism, the villains get the spotlight with the tune \u201cEl Pr\u00edncipe de los Sustos\u201d (\u201cThe Prince of Spooks\u201d), in which they denounce how they believe Herneval has wronged them. Though it appears in previous scenes, this number features multiple moments created with hand-painted, animated frames for an effect that reminds one of a moving oil painting, similar to how the Oscar-nominated \u201cLoving Vincent\u201d came to life.<\/p>\n

\n\tMexico\u2019s answer to \u201cThe Nightmare Before Christmas,\u201d the Ambriz brothers\u2019 beautifully idiosyncratic \u201cI Am Frankelda\u201d was obviously influenced by Del Toro\u2019s darkly whimsical oeuvre; thus, it makes sense that the director of \u201cFrankenstein\u201d has been a supporter and mentor to these younger compatriots in their pursuit of stop-motion greatness. They are well on their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For its painstaking physicality alone, stop-motion is inherently impressive as an animation technique, no matter the scale or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,70258,85,46,397,1776],"class_list":["post-107632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-i-am-frankelda","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies","tag-tokyo-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}