Capture the Flag
Capture the Flag | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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When we said "Don’t capture this flag", we mean it.
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Capture the Flag (also known as Atrapa la Bandera in Spanish) is a 2015 Spanish computer-animated science-fiction adventure comedy film directed by Enrique Gato and written by Patxi Amezcua. Produced by 4 Cats Pictures and animated by Lightbox Entertainment, the film is distributed by Paramount Pictures International, becoming historically the first Spanish animated film to be released worldwide by a renowned mainstream studio distribution and it was released in 3D and 2D format.
Plot
Mike Goldwing, a plucky, determined 12-year-old boy, is the son and grandson of NASA astronauts. His grandfather Frank Goldwing is a once revered, but now forgotten retired astronaut, who lives his days isolated from his family in a retirement home for former astronauts after missing out on his big chance to fly to the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as a part of the Apollo XI mission. An eccentric Texan billionaire named Richard Carson III devises a plan to fly to the moon, to steal the moon's vast mineral resources (Helium-3), and destroy the American flag planted by the Apollo XI team trying to prove that America had never visited the moon and that he was the first person on the Moon to own it.
Bad Qualities
- The movie's plot is bland and slow.
- The characters are uninteresting and have weak personality, especially the protagonist, Mike Goldwing.
- Some of the supporting characters look like copies of characters from Pixar movies, like Mike's mother, who is almost identical to Elastigirl from the Incredibles movies, and the younger sister looks like Boo from Monsters, Inc.
- Richard Carson III is a boring and unremarkable antagonist.
- There is a game based on this movie for the PS4, which hasn't aged well.
- Marty can be a bit annoying for some people.
- Plot hole: How did it happen of which Mike and Amy, who are still kids, get astronaut uniforms exactly their size as soon as they got on the rocket?
- The humor is generic and boring like the scene where Mike and Amy tried to eat the snack in the rocket while Mike’s pet lizard eats one, causing them to “accidentally kiss”.
Good Qualities
- The animation is beautiful, as are the character designs.
- Although the characters are a little uninteresting, they're still nice.
- In Brazil, the name of the film was changed to "No Mundo da Lua", which means "In the Moon World", which is a better name and which matches the film.
- A similar case happened on the Latin Spanish dub, which was called "Una familia espacial"
- The end of the movie is good and emotional, showing what happened to Mike and his grandfather after planting the flag on the moon.
- The movie has a great soundtrack, especially for the song I'll Reach You played at the end.
Reception
The film unnoticeably received some mixed reviews from few American critics and was well-received by most Spanish critics. The American setting had polarizing reception while the animation, action scenes, voice acting, music score, and themes were generally praised. The film won Best Animated Film at the 2016 Goya Awards.
Trivia
- Though released first in Spain, Capture the Flag was animated to the English voice cast first and dubbed into Spanish and Catalan in post-production.