Zip and Zap, or Zipi y Zape, are two cheeky mop-topped Spanish comic-strip characters brought to life here in a live-action feature film. It sees the pair sent away to a summer boarding school run by the dictatorial, eye-patch-wearing Falconetti, who believes that children should be seen and not heard and that fun is an impediment to personal growth. Zip and Zap baulk at such thinking and soon they and their marble gang are causing all manner of mischief, while trying to uncover the deeper secrets of this educational establishment.
Beyond speculating about whether Falconetti’s authoritarianism might be a sly reference to Franco-era Spain (the strip’s creator, José Escobar Saliente, was imprisoned after the civil war for union activity), adults are unlikely to find a great deal to chew on here. But as a children’s film it’s a solid enough effort, with Oskar Santos’s bright, brisk direction bringing to mind – if not matching the quality of – Danny Devito’s Matilda, as events lead up to an inventive, steampunk-inspired conclusion.
