“What is it with Mexicans and death?” screams an exasperated museum visitor in this vibrantly alternative half-term offering. “We’re just kids!!” Produced by Mexican maestro Guillermo del Toro (whose creative fingerprints are everywhere), this 3D animation uses Day of the Dead celebrations to lead us from the land of the living to the lands of the Remembered (joyous, vivacious) and the Forgotten (hellishly grey), where deities La Muerte and Xibalba are locked in passionate struggle, while a warrior and a musician battle for the heart of a super-independent heroine.
It’s refreshingly sparky fare, boasting eye-catching design (wooden toys inspire CG magic), musical weirdness (Radiohead will never sound the same again) and proper laugh-out-loud jokes for young and old alike. Oh, and it proudly identifies Mexico as “the centre of the universe”. Bullseye!
• Comments have been reopened to time with this film’s Australian release
