This movie was nominated for best animated feature length film last year, and while it did not win, I would put it in the top two movies--really a spectacular story, well told and the animation is very seductive, as is the music and the story that is told.
Drawn with a moody artistry, shaded by its Cuban musical roots, "Chico & Rita" is a buttery rich animated tale of love, jazz, showbiz, fame and politics in the late '40s and early '50s that is as catchy as its tunes. This is definitely animation for grown-ups — its look is voluptuous, sexy and sultry; its Latin-inflected Dizzy Gillespie sound is seductive; and its tragic story of young lovers whose passions are tested is timeless. It all begins in Havana in the pre-Castro years when rich Americans jetted down for entertainment. Rita, a promising young singer with a smoky voice, and Chico, a piano man extraordinaire, are part of that scene, and it is where they meet.
Chico has a bit of a temper, is a bit jealous, and he is also a bit weak--run around by the women he sleeps with and not really making choices that are good ones. He really cares about Rita, but he makes a lot of mistakes, some of them rookie, some of them out of pride. The movie shifts between the time when they met and the present--in the past we are angry at Chico, in the present we feel sorry for him, and at the end we hope he finds happiness. This movie--and it's soundtrack--is not to be missed.
Drawn with a moody artistry, shaded by its Cuban musical roots, "Chico & Rita" is a buttery rich animated tale of love, jazz, showbiz, fame and politics in the late '40s and early '50s that is as catchy as its tunes. This is definitely animation for grown-ups — its look is voluptuous, sexy and sultry; its Latin-inflected Dizzy Gillespie sound is seductive; and its tragic story of young lovers whose passions are tested is timeless. It all begins in Havana in the pre-Castro years when rich Americans jetted down for entertainment. Rita, a promising young singer with a smoky voice, and Chico, a piano man extraordinaire, are part of that scene, and it is where they meet.
Chico has a bit of a temper, is a bit jealous, and he is also a bit weak--run around by the women he sleeps with and not really making choices that are good ones. He really cares about Rita, but he makes a lot of mistakes, some of them rookie, some of them out of pride. The movie shifts between the time when they met and the present--in the past we are angry at Chico, in the present we feel sorry for him, and at the end we hope he finds happiness. This movie--and it's soundtrack--is not to be missed.
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