Atrapa la bandera (2015) Reviews

• Quite good, up to a point

  neil-4762016-02-05

  Three kids who play a competitive sailboarding flag-capturing game end up involved in a moon mission to stop a mad squillionaire businessman from destroying evidence of the 1969 moon landing, and reunite the father and grandfather of one of them. This Spanish-produced CGI feature is really strange. On one level it works perfectly satisfactorily as a kids' action adventure movie. On another, it puzzles the adult viewer as it blends hyper-realistic scientific detail with things which have you going "Huh?" (not least of which is the way that NASA allows three pre-pubescent kids to wander in and out without any kind of security issues arising). There is also a credibility mismatch between the NASA mission hardware (conventional rocket, command module, LEM) and the baddie's state-of-the-art sci-fi spaceship and its payload of heavy duty machinery. I doubt that this will trouble the intended audience, though, most of whom will be of an age with the protagonists. This mismatch also applies on the animation side. The scientific detail is excellent, from NASA hardware to the moon's surface, gravity, and so on. But the human faces, particularly the kids, are all strangely bland, unfinished, and similar (apart from the chubby, scientific genius, incredibly annoying, ginger kid). I can't say that I thought this was great, but I guess it would be a lot easier to think more of it if I was age 9.

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• Amusing and charming adventure about a little boy who travels outer space and lands in moon

  ma-cortes2017-07-08

  Great movie that contains brilliant and enticing animated pieces that have the rare quality of appealing both , youngsters and adults but on different levels . Good animation movie in magnificent visual style about the amazing adventures of three kiddies who aboard a space shuttle in NASA . It stars Mike (voice by Danny Rovira) a valiant 12 years old boy who embarks on a fantastic moon trip to defeat a nasty and ambitious villain . Accompanied by his grandfather , a forgotten retired astronaut ,and his sweetheart Amy (voice by Michelle Jenner) and an amusing chameleon with delusion of giant monster-like grandeur, arrive in the moon to take the US Flag and join his family. Meanwhile,the headstrong surfer Mike has to confront a ruthless billionaire who is planning a scheme to rewrite history and excise the feats of the Apolo XI and the moon landing. This is a high quality picture plenty of adventures,funny incidents , humor with tongue in cheek and fantasy.The film includes as technical advisers, the known astronauts Alan Bean and Miguel Lopez Alegria who was the first Spanish astronaut to go the outer space. The animation movie has some very funny scenes , emotion, entertainment and amusement .Top-notch production ,lavishly and colorfully realized similarly to a Hollywood product.Sensational and fantastic tale with noisy action , surprising situations and results to be big fun. The motion picture was very well directed by Enrique Gato . Being advisable to see for children and adults who appeal the splendid computer generator animation. Gato is an excellent animation filmmaker. He has directed splendid films , firstly he made short movie in 2004 Tadeo Jones ,and its sequel Tadeo Jones and the basement doom . Later on , he filmed long run film 2012 Adventures Tadeo Jones . And in post production a new sequel 2017 Tadeo Jones and the secret of King Midas Rating: Better than average . Well worth watching.

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• Perfect for Kids!

  masoudimehran2016-04-19

  This animation is so unfairly under-rated. OK... this movie is for kids but i enjoyed it very much because it brought me back to my childhood! There's no reason to compare this with masterpieces like Toy Story. All the crew did their job perfectly. And remember this movie "is a 2015 Spanish computer-animated science fiction adventure comedy film"!

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• Could have done with more polish, but not bad

  TheLittleSongbird2016-07-08

  There are better animated films out there, let's not beat around the bush, than 'Capture the Flag', but there are far worse out there as well. 'Capture the Flag' is not a great film as such and has its flaws, instead it's a decent film that could have done with more polish. There is a lack of finesse in the quite strange character designs, that do look unfinished. And it is agreed that some of the story has its disjointed and rushed (much of the pacing is suitably efficient though) moments and that some of the scientific stuff does convolute the story and may go over most viewers' heads. However, there are also some lovely visuals. The colours are vibrant and atmospherically textured enough, and there is a lot of meticulous detail. The music score and song choices have a really nice Spanish flavour. While not perfect in execution, the script is amusing with some evidence of charm and heart. It also at least knows which target audience it's aiming for and makes a real effort to appeal to both children and adults, it doesn't completely succeed but still the children will have a few chuckles and like the characters and adults will appreciate the neat inside jokes and notion of the importance of family which has enough subtlety to make it too preachy in how it's delivered. Characters while lacking depth are likable and charming enough, and they are also nimbly voiced. All in all, could have been a better film with more polish, but not a bad film...to me actually it was pretty decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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• A SURPRISING SPANISH-ANIMATED MASTERPIECE, THAT IS NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE NON-DISNEY ANIMATED FILMS

  diegoblasio2018-02-21

  Capture the flag Is indeed one of the most surprising animated films ever made, with an engaging and heartwarming story, positive and epic representation, well crafted animation, and engaging characters that mostly have certain charm, well, more importantly the worthy main characters, even despite some implied issues of most of the supporting characters aspects (specially the resemblance of mother TERESA and her daughter TESS to some known disney/pixar characters), this film indeed has made me a mind blowing experience when it comes the highlighting goal of capturing and rescuing the flag planted on the moon, offering a lot of heart, action, even including some fun and strong moments. This is absolutely a must watch film, even it worth checking it out by recommending this to the animation fans and probably the moon NASA admirers, I can guarantee this movie deserves much attention like happened in Spain since apparently can be seen as an underrated one in the USA since this film got mostly Spanish positive comments and was apparently mixed in the USA with a limited release there and won the Spanish academy award or Goya for best animated film, indeed this film deserved that award, and there is no denying that this film was much more improved and emotional than Enrique gato's previous film, and this should be probably considered as one of the greatest animated films of all time made originally in Spain (despite that this movie has animated USA elements) Story 9/10 Animation 9/10 Characters 9/10 Overall: 9/10

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