Chico & Rita (2010)

Chico and Rita is an animated feature about Love, passion and music. As such it appealed to me, as did the promise of a soundtrack put together including people such as Thelonious Monk, Buena Vista Social Club and many Jazz greats. It follows young composer Chico, and looks at the relationship he had with Rita, a singer who blew him away when he first saw her he began writing with her in mind. It follows the ups and downs of their relationship, the lies, the deceit as well as the touching moments where the love really happens.

To begin with, the animation. The animation is absolutely wonderful. It's quite basic, but somehow conveys textures and scope brilliantly. Each character is fully developed and it rarely feels like you're watching a cartoon, instead simply a nice piece of drama being played out. That isn't to say that they don't use the animation well. For example the use of colour to display mood is done very well, with deep blues and vibrant contrasts used to convey their struggles and hopes respectively. There is also a strong sense of depth, with the film at times feeling like a 3D feature (without ever actually being so), which is both fascinating, but at times a little over played.

The story is fairly basic, couple fall in love, they get torn apart by various circumstance, then again they get together and fall apart again. It is this that I feel is the weakest thing about the film. However, the story is really well played out, so whilst the concept may be stale, the execution is not, the film is filled with warmth and heart and is all the better for it. The soundtrack too is wonderful. You've got great Jazz numbers mixed with newly composed latin numbers, they provide the type of soundtrack that makes you want to go back to the 40s and 50s and experience all of this first hand.

As far as adult animated features go, this is another interesting example to go alongside Perespolis and Waltz With Bashir as examples of great cartoons don't have to be just for kids. The animation is wonderful too, and any more films that look like this will well and truly be on my radar.