Nahuel and the Magic Book
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This page was copy pasted from the original Reception Wikis on Miraheze.
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"Es momento de partir, Nahuel. Tu padre te necesita. Todos te necesitan. tu pueres... tu pueres...
(It's time to leave, Nahuel. Your father needs you. Everyone needs you. You can do this... you can do this...)"
—
Nahuel and the Magic Book (Spanish: Nahuel y el Libro Mágico) is a 2022 animated fantasy adventure coming-of-age film directed, produced and screenplay by Germán Acuña Delgadillo with the co-production of Caburadores, Levante Films, Punkrobot Animation Studios, Red Animation Studios, Gecko Animacion, Draftoons Studios, Thumbs Multimedia, 315 Estudios, Stoon, Zentanauta, Cabong Studios, Dragao Studios, Intervalo, Animator, DL Assessoria Contrabil, L+Z, Fratem and LMS Studio, written by German Acuna Delgadillo and Juan Pablo Sepúlveda, Produced by Sebastian Ruz, Livia Pagano, Patricio Escala, Sabrina Bogado, Milton Guerrero, Gabriel García, Margarita Cid Lizondo, Constanza Adonis, with the help by the animation directors Enrique Ocampo and Rosamari Martinez, composed by Felicia Morales and Cristoabl Carvajal and Starting Consuelo Pizarro, Muriel Benavides, Sebastian Dupont, Vanessa Silva, Sandro Larenas, Jorge Lillo and Sergio Schmied. This film's first premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France on June 15th-20th, 2020, the nationwide Chilean theatrical premiere on January 20th, 2022 by Cinecolors, the international distribution by Latido Films and the theatrical and online streaming release worldwide in several months 2022 (or next year) with the help of the distribution rights in other continents such as HBO in Eastern Europe and Disney Plus in Latin America. This film is so good and well-received after Annecy, that it was nominated and participated in many film festivals and awards across the world. Look at the list of awards and film festivals below.
Plot
A young and introverted 12-year-old Nahuel lived with his father Antonio in a small fishing town in the Chiloé Archipelago. Nahuel is afraid of the sea despite helping his father as a fisherman. One day, after he grabs the house keys from a cat inside the abandoned house, he stole a mysterious book, the Levisterio, and takes it home to solve his childish fears. However, Kalku was furious as he heard about the book by La Voladoras and then kidnapped his dad after he and Nahuel got separated by a storm. Now, his journey starts with the help of his companion Fresia and a cursed wolf Ruende to save his dad and conquer his fears.
Good Qualities
- The concept of a boy who had a deep fear of the sea and the loss of his mom, despite its very cliché from the other animated movies like Pixar, is very amazing and it was fitting for the character development to the titular protagonist, Nahuel.
- This is the first Chilean 2D traditional hand-drawn animated movie that was made for 5 years, along with the collaboration with Brazil and it was the first Chilean-Brazilian animated film that was nominated in Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the oldest animation film festival in the entire world.
- The story and the pacing, while it's a bit mediocre, it's actually kinda good.
- After a huge backlash Pulentos: La Película, This film made a huge comeback of Latin American traditional and hand-drawn animation with the combination from the studios like Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Saloon, Cartoon Network and Disney or even influenced and inspired by a graphic novel/comic to life. and one of the teams who made the film as possible were from the other studios and crews all over and from Chile and other countries from Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia and Columbia: Punkrobot, Red Animation, Levante Films, Dragao Studios, LMS Animation Studio and Draftoon Animation Studio .
- Unlike Elcano and Magellan: The First Voyage, This film is very appreciative of the people of the Mapuche tribe that one of the main characters is Mapuche: Fresia and Huenchur.
- Nahuel, name after the protagonist, is a Mapuche name that means jaguar.
- Their animation is so unique and amazing, that it would reflect the plot and the moments of the film thanks to the animation directors, Enrique Ocampo (who is also an animation director of Legend Quest) and Rosamari Martinez
- The character design made by Cristobal Macaya and Valentina Villafaena was amazing, which is basically similar to Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Hilda and Ghibli Films, thanks to the animators of Punkrobot, Levante, Red, and many more companies and freelancer animators for assisting Carburadores.
- Amazing design and coloring for the background settings and places like the market, the ocean, the forest, the tavern, the night sky, etc. thanks to Acuña Delgadillo along with his team like Coni Adonis, Javier Navarro, Francisco Vasquez, Luna Vargas, and Luisa Adonis.
- Sound effects by Marcelo Vidal is great.
- Best soundtrack between music composed by Felicia Morales, Cristobal Carvajal and Director Acuña to connect the scenes to make us feel those moments.
- Amazing voice actors who fit the characters like: Consuelo Pizarro, Vanesa Silva, Sebastián Dupont, Sandro Larenas, and many more dubbers from Chile, Brazil and Argentina who fit the characters from the film.
- Nahuel, Fresia and Ruende were the perfect trio. In fact, ALL of the characters are likable and relatable! In fact, the characters gained character development throughout the film
- Nahuel, the main protagonist, after the tragic death of his mom, not only deep fear of the sea but also wanted to be recognized and loved with his father. But as the bullies tried to block him out of his way like when they force him to get into the boat, we can see him crying as they want him to be suffered. Not only that, he drops the eggs as he got into the truck after a chase by both Calfunao and Rorro again, he feels like he failed after what his father said to him to do it. He stole the book from the abandoned house to get his job done. As he jumps into his father's boat, and the two started to get along, he though his goal is completed when the giant storm separated him and Antonio in a stormy day in the middle of the sea, and getting attacked by La Voladoras and Cuchivilu, he still wanted to use the book, claiming he will use the book to face his fear. Heck, We can see Nahuel abandoned Fresia, feeling like he was too addicted from the book, accusing Trauco for stealing it. But with the help of Trauco's potions to talk to his mother, we can see him meet his mom one last time as she brings the locket to him to be brave. In the climax after Kalku is eaten by the Cai Cai, resulting the tower falls down leading him, Fresia and Antonio falls, he got saved by his dad, but unfortunatly, Fresia falls into the water. He let go of his dad's hand, runs and jumps down tot the sea to save her and the moment of truth is there, he finally overcomes his fear of the sea without the book.
- Antonio, Nahuel's dad, became a cold-hearted, strict father to Nahuel, all because he misses his wife and is disappointed for his son's actions. But as the son got into the boat to get to him and start fishing, the two's relationship started to cool off. As we can see when Nahuel talks to him, he froze and tries to hold on that he still misses his wife a lot which makes things. And as we see he got cured from Kalku's curse after he sees the same locket give to her, he started crying not only he miss Consuelo, but also miss his son. He smiled with tears of joy as he saw his son, alive, and started apologize for being such a bad father to him. He use to love his wife, but now on he loves his son the same thing happen to Consuelo.
- While we all can agree that Ruende's wife is actually Raiquen (La Voladoras) is a bit rushed, and it feels understandable. We can see those two characters got cursed by the same antagonist who wants the book to rule the world.
- Kalku, the main antagonist of the film and despite being a generic bad guy and doesn't have a lot of screentime, is an interesting villain. He wants to steal the book, not only to release the Cai-Cai to destroy the island, but also the entire world. With the intimidating voice of Marcelo Liapiz and his creepy personality, Kalku's villainy is very intimidating.
- This scene when Nahuel and his father got separated by a storm makes you feel goosebumps:
- "NAHUEL!"
- "PAPA!"
- "NAHUEL!"
- Some fans of the movie say that the animation and characters are inspired by the shows and movies like Disney's Gravity Falls, Cartoon Networks' Steven Universe, Netflix's Hilda, Both Cartoon Saloon movies, and other films from Studio Ghibli because they have amazing storytelling, inspiring lines, memorable characters, and best moments.
- Speaking of inspiration from other movies and shows, here are some similarities:
- Nahuel, the titular protagonist of the movie, similar to Dipper Pines and Steven Universe, Those 3 were regular boys in a regular life, which they were introverted, insecure, always bullied, but they were responsible, smart, courageous and kind kids that they have courage inside when they see their loved ones in trouble.
- Fresia, the secondary character and love interest of Nahuel, was similar to Pacifica Northwest and Connie Maheswaran. Those 3 were brave, strong and be friends with a young, weak but smart, and kindhearted male protagonist.
- Antonio, Nahuel's dad, was particularly similar to Greg Universe and Stan Pines, even though Stan is not Dipper and Mabel's dad but he always tried to protect his grandkids. His personality was similar to Connor from Song of the Sea, who blamed his son for his wife's death of childbirth.
- Consuelo, Nahuel's mom, is like Rose Quartz who gave birth to both sons before they died.
- Ruende, a talking wolf companion, looked like Rose Quartz's and Steven's Lion, even though Lion doesn't talk and cursed.
- Kalku and La Voladoras (Raiquen when she's human) were similar to the leader (The Diamonds and Bill Cipher) and their Right Hands (Pearls and Bill's friends).
- When Nahuel stole the Levisterio at the abandoned house, it seems similar to Season 1, Episode 1 of Gravity Falls, "Tourist Trap".
- The town that Nahuel and his father lived in was a reference to the port town of Beach City from Steven Universe and a town from Song of the Sea and probably a bit of Gravity Falls on the other island because of mythological creatures.
- The whole "Son to the Rescue" plot is a reference from Season 4, Episodes 11-15 of Steven Universe when Greg, Steven's dad, got kidnapped by Blue Diamond to The Human Zoo.
- When Nahuel is chasing the cat and goes into the abandoned house to retrieve keys but then finds the book, it is a reference from The Secret of Kells where Brendan chasing Abbot Cellach's cat and go outside the Abbey to follow and finds a human-like creature Aisling.
- The scene where La Voladoras' crows attack Huenchur's hut and demand her to surrender Nahuel with the book of Levisterio to her, is the same reference from Song of the Sea where Macha's birds are about to breach the window and capture Saoirse, turning her into stone.
- Added to that, the fight between the two women is similar to the duel between Eda and Lillith from The Owl House.
- The magical places and creatures from the tavern and the town which was the same in both shows.
- Kalku's abandoned town is a reference to Emperor Belos's castle from The Owl House, based on the atmosphere and coloring we can see the similarities were connected.
- When Nahuel met his late mom, it's probably a reference to Season 4, Episode 17 of Steven Universe, "Storm In The Room", but this scene makes it more emotional than the episode excluding the "turning evil" cliche.
- In fact this scene have the same vibe as The Lion King, when a protagonist meets his beloved parent one last time to fight the antagonist and to save everyone.
- Redemption of La Voladoras (or Raiquen when she's human) and teams up with her husband Ruende to defeat Kalku which is similar to Pacifica and the Diamonds on "Northwest Mansion Mystery" and "Change Your Mind", despite off-screen.
- The scene when Kalku drop and falls Antonio from the tower and letting Nahuel fighting back and avoid him using the Levisterio is similar to the season 2 finale, "True Colors", from Amphibia when King Andrias falls Sprig and letting Anne's powers to destroy him and wants his closest friend back.
- There are some sad, emotional and heartwarming moments like:
- The death of Nahuel's mom from the beginning of the film,
- The bonding between Nahuel and his dad to go fishing, making a scene a father-son moment,
- Elzaino tells everyone to cheer to Nahuel for defeating Chon-Chon,
- When Nahuel drank the soup from Trauco, he met his late mom one last time at the empty boat encouraging him, even though she hasn't see him for 11 years, to be brave, she even give the locket to him.
- The reunion between him and his father at the abandoned lighthouse are some of the most saddest and emotional moments of the film,
- Plot Twist: The scene when Raiquen saw Ruende, they both knew that they're lovers from another side when Ruende is from the good side tried to save her, while Raiquen (aka La Voladoras) was from the bad side who got hypnotized,
- And lastly, about 10-15 minutes before the end of the movie, Fresia saw Nahuel at the top of the monstrous Cai-Cai, he hugged his companion (or should I say, love interest) and smiled.
- The ending has the same energy like Song of the Sea, when all characters reunites and have a happy moment together in the beach.
- Romantic ship: As stated from above as the two main protagonists, Nahuel and Fresia, like every single characters making their every single romantic subplot in every animated film does like Wall-E and Eve, McQueen and Sally, Carl and Ellie, Alfredo and Colette and Woody and Bo Peep, are interested in each other. They're one of the two protagonists of this film were a perfect duo (Okay, it's a trio if you include Ruende) and after all that they been through ever since the beginning of the quest, they have a bond, shared their fears, feelings and wisdom to each other, and they feel like they were best friends since they were the only child from the only parent who doesn't have friends, except each other.
- There were some Chiloe and Mapuche mythologies like the Caicai-Vilu, The Trauco, The mighty indigenous woman Huenchur, the malevolent Kalku, the Chonchon beast, the half-woman half-crow La Voladoras, etc.
- Good Ending: Nahuel finally conquer his fear of the sea after he saved Fresia, Kalku is defeated, the Levisterio is destroyed, Antonio learns to love his son, Ruende and Raiquen turns back to humans, and weeks after their adventure, they all have a picnic in the beach together.
- This film's overall message teaches children to understand the message, not only overcoming your fear and trust, but also taught us family love.
- When Nahuel tries to save Fresia under the ocean at around the end of the film, he jumps out of the lighthouse and dives into the ocean in order to save her and In the middle of the film, Fresia tells Nahuel about her experience with the dark and tells him that his dad will love him even if he's afraid of the sea.
- As I previously stated, the bonding between him and his dad throughout the film from against each other and have differences ahead to be there for each other.
- Overall, this is a love letter for not only Chilean animation, but also for Chilean culture and Latin American culture.
Bad Qualities
- Despite WIR #20's message, The plot was trying to send a message of "overcoming your fear". The reason Nahuel stole the Levisterio in the first place was that he wants to stand against his bullies, not the sea; Yes, we get it during the beginning of the film we can see Nahuel's mom died by childbirth inside the boat in the middle of the storm so we can feel what's happening to the protagonist, but that's not the reason. You can see when they got separated during the storm and Nahuel just swims! The real reason why he and his father's relation were complicated because, as I said, the bullies are the ones who picked on him because he's a coward, not the sea.
- There were some unlikable characters like:
- Nahuel's father, Antonio, was being a jerk to Nahuel at the beginning of the film. Ever since, his wife dies by giving birth to their son, his relationship with Nahuel was very complicated. They won't even talk to each other because he's a screwup. However, he became likable a bit in the middle of the film when the two have a bond as he learns his son to catch fish in the fishing boat and at the end of the film after he got rescued by his son.
- Calfunao and Rorro who picked and bullies Nahuel, who literally wants him dead for pushing them off!.
- and Elzaino, while likable, lies to Nahuel who manages to steal the book last night and give it to Kalku.
- There were very disturbing and dark scenes that kids won't handle in their nightmares.
- The blind man who lives in the abandoned house, is very useless and he wasn't affected by the whole plot, making him a filler.
- Kalku, while well-written, is a very weak villain. He wants the book of Levisterio to destroy mankind, aka he's a generic "I'm gonna conquer the world because I'm evil".
List of festivals and awards attended
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France on June 15-30, 2020
- Schlingel's 25TH International Film Festival in Chemnitz, Germany on October 10-17, 2020
- Chilemonos Festival in Santiago, Chile on October 5-24, 2020
- The American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, USA on November 9-13, 2020
- Ventana Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 30-December 4, 2020
- The European Film Market in Berlin, Germany on March 1-5, 2021
- The New York International Children Film Festival, in New York City, New York, USA on March 4-15, 2021
- Miami Film Market in Miami, Florida, USA on March 5–14, 2021
- Tokyo Anime Award Festival in Tokyo, Japan on March 12-15, 2021
- Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 17-28 2021
- Toronto Animation Film Festival in Toronto, Canada on March 24-27, 2021
- The Seattle International Film Festival in Seatle, Washington, USA on April 8-18 2021
- Stockholm Film Festival Junior in Stockholm, Sweden from April 19-24 2021
- Premios Quirino in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain on May 27-29 2021
- Marché du Film in Cannes, France on July 6-15 2021
- Transylvania International Film Festival in Transylvania, Romania on July 25-26 2021
- Cinemagic in Dublin, Ireland on July 30-August 12 2021
- Zlin Film Festival in Zlin, Czech Republic on September 9-15, 2021
- Viborg Animation Festival in Viborg, Denmark on September 27, 2021-October 3 2021
- Buster Film Festival in Denmark on September 27-October 10 2021
- Cinemateket on October 7-10, 2021
- Latin America Film Festival on October 8-10, 2021
- Cine Latino in Minnesota, USA on October 8-17, 2021
- Cine Magnifico in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA on October 16, 2021
- Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA on October 23, 2021
- LatinAmerika i Fokus in Malmo, Sweden on October 31, 2021
- Rolan International Film Festival in Armenia on November 1-5, 2021
- Junior Fest in Czech Republic on November 5-11, 2021
- Film Frasnor in Oslo, Norway on November 11-21, 2021
- Belmont World Film Family Festival in Belmont, Boston, USA on January 15, 2022
- Boston SciFi in Boston, USA on February 16-21, 2022
- Mostra Lisboa Animation Festival in Lisbon, Portugal on March 16-27, 2022
- San Diego Latino Film Festival in San Diego, California, USA on March 19, 2022
- Corporación Cultural de La Reina in Santiago, Chile on March 26, 2022
- Children's International Film Festival in Elsternwick, Australia on May 28-June 13, 2022
- The Puerto Mont Film Festival, in Puerto Mont, Chile on May 30-June 12, 2022
- Acercando el Cine, in Vicuna, Chile on June 14-30, 2022
- Centro Arte Alameda in Santiago, Chile on June 21, 2022
- The BIKY Film Festival in Busan, South Korea on July 6-16, 2022
- The BioBioCine International Film Festival in Concepción, Chile on July 18-23, 2022
- The Junior Fest Film Festival in Prague, the Czech Republic on July 2022
- The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival in Las Palmas, the Canary Islands on July 23-30 2022, 2022
- The Latin American Cinema Festival in Seoul, South Korea on August 5-15, 2022
- Stockholm's Latin American Film Festival Panoramica in Stockholm, Sweden on September 20-25, 2022
- The Panoramica Film Festival in Skärisbiografen, Sweden on September 25, 2022
Trivia
- Punkrobot, one of the co-producers of the film, was behind the Oscar award-winning for the best short animated film "Bear Story", an animated short film based on the director's grandfather after the Chilean coup de'tat on September 11 and during Pinochet's regime until the 1990s.
- According to the director's announcement on Facebook, this film would originally release in October 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was postponed until the official statement from the company to January 20, 2022.
- The voice actors from the film, who are from Chile and Argentina were also dubbers in various animated shows like:
- Consuelo Pizarro, (who dubbed Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan, Rito from Ni Hao Kai-Lan, Anya Fromel from DanMachi. Despite being a woman, she's very good at voicing the main character, Nahuel)
- Vanesa Silva, (who dubbed Riley from The Replacements, Yin from Yin Yang Yo! and Ty Lee from Avatar: The Legend of Aang)
- She's also one of the voice actors from Pulentos: La Película
- Sebastián Dupont,(who dubbed Kasima Oka from DanMachi and Tesu Da from Golpea Duro ¡Hara!)
- Sandro Larenas, (who dubbed Garfield from the Garfield series and Zuko from The Legends of Korra)
- and many more dubbers from Chile who fit the characters from the film.
- Enrique Ocampo, the animation director of the film, is also worked for Legend Quest, a Mexican animated series based on the animated franchise film "La Leyendas".
- Felicia Morales, the music director, is a Chilean influencer who plays music and posts vlogs on YouTube and Spotify.
- Muriel Benevades, the voice actress behind Fresia, is a YouTuber known as Piyoasdf, in which she posted videos about art, styles, dub, and covers.
- Sebastian Dupont, Ruende's voice actor, is also a YouTuber based on the same name, which he also posted videos about covers of the songs.
- It was also sold to the Madrid movie distributor, Latido Films. They also distributed some good films like Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas and Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles. While the bad movie that Latido picked was Caroline and the Magic Potion
- This film is the first-ever 2D animated film in Chile and co-produce by Brazil that was nominated in Annecy after Brazil's 2014 animated film Boy and the World, and after the first-ever 3D short film Bear Story by Gabriel Osorio, who won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film and the first-ever Latin American animated film who won and Oscar, and the first puppet animation The Wolf House by Joaquín Cociña, and Cristóbal León with the collaboration from Germany.
- This is the second Chilean film that was entered in the Annecy International Animation Film Festival after The Wolf House back in 2018, along with some other good films like Calamity, A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary from France and Denmark, and Lupin III: The First from Japan.
- This is currently the 8th longest page as well as the longest page about a foreign film on this wiki, having 30,157 bytes as of the current version.
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