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Birdboy: The Forgotten Children

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Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlberto Vázquez
Pedro Rivero
Written byAlberto Vázquez
Pedro Rivero
Based onPsiconautas
by Alberto Vázquez
Produced byFarruco Castromán
Carlos Júarez
Luis Tosar
CinematographyJose Domingo
Alberto Vázquez
Edited byIván Miñambres
Music byAránzazu Calleja
Victor García
Junna
Production
companies
ZircoZine
Basque Films
Abrakam Estudio
La Competencia Producciones
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
Running time
76 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish
Budget€1 million
Box office$54,845[1]

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Spanish: Psiconautas, los niños olvidados; also known as Psychonauts, the Forgotten Children) is a 2015 Spanish adult animated coming-of-age horror drama film written and directed by Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero, based on the comic Psiconautas by Vázquez. It is the follow-up to the pair's short film Birdboy, following the titular character, a shy outcast in a post-apocalyptic society, and Dinky, a 14-year-old mouse fleeing her desolate island home.[2]

Plot

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The island home of the cast of talking animals was once a fishing community with a pristine environment. Birdman, the father of Birdboy, tended the lighthouse that guided the fishing boats. Then a factory was built and many islanders went to work there. But one day, the factory exploded, devastating much of the island and killing all the fish. The destroyed part of the island became a landfill. After the explosion, Birdman began flying around the island mysteriously, carrying a satchel. The police came to believe that he was trafficking drugs, and they eventually shot him dead, but his satchel actually contained strange glowing golden acorns.

The explosion leaves a large crow-like demon trapped inside Birdboy, leading him to live alone. Birdboy controls the demon by using drugs that he buys from Zachariah, a piglet who owns a fishing boat and a parrot, and "happy pills" that a mouse named Dinky steals from her parents. The young mouse in fact becomes very close friends with Birdboy, but he pushes her away because of the demon inside him. The police hunt after Birdboy, thinking that he might be pushing drugs as well, and shoot him in many instances. But each time he's shot, Birdboy retreats to a secret grotto. Thriving with life, the grotto contains a giant tree surrounded by clean water that still has fish. Birdboy has filled the tree with birds; when they die, their souls take the form of bright yellow bugs that can heal Birdboy's wounds. The bugs then retreat to the tree, causing it to grow the golden acorns.

Dinky lives with her mother and stepfather, Christian fundamentalists that routinely excoriate her for her misbehavior. One day, she decides to finally go through with a plan to escape the island. She and her friends Sandra the rabbit and Little Fox have been saving coins to pay for a trip to the city, where they heard Little White Mouse's older brother went and prospered. To get the last amount of money they need, they decide to rob Zachariah's house. Zachariah has also been saving money to escape, but stays to care for his drug addicted mother. Her addiction takes the form of a vicious spider demon that grows to gigantic size whenever Zachariah injects the drugs. The spider catches the children stealing Zachariah's piggy bank, but the kids get away with the bank after a fight that leaves the spider weakened. Finally fed up with the spider, Zachariah crushes it, even though he knows killing the spider will kill his mother. But his mother actually thanks Zachariah for freeing her; trying to comfort her tearful son with her last words.

Dinky, Sandra and Little Fox make their way to the landfill, where they find Little White Mouse's brother still there, scavenging copper for money. The brother leads them to the contraband dealer Uncle Klauss. The kids hope to get a boat on which to leave the island, but they can only afford a large inflatable pool toy duck. Continuing through the landfill, the kids get ambushed by a tribe of scavenger rats known as the Forgotten Children. Zachariah's parrot sees the capture, and flies to Birdboy to warn him that the Forgotten Children plan to execute the kids. Filled with rage, Birdboy allows the demon to take over, turning him into gigantic, fire breathing raptor. In this form, Birdboy decimates the Forgotten Children and destroys their settlement.

Once freed, Dinky searches for Birdboy and finds her scared friend reverted to his normal form. Dinky pleads with Birdboy to come with them, and finally tells him that she loves him. Overjoyed, Birdboy agrees to guide the kids on the inflatable duck from the air. But a storm capsizes the toy duck, and then the police spot Birdboy and shoot him one last time. Zachariah uses his fishing boat to rescue the kids, but he then returns them to their homes. Later on, Zachariah tries to fish again, only to salvage a dying Birdboy from the ocean's bottom. Birdboy's own glowing bug emerges from his dying breath. The bug gathers many other bugs, and they fly to Dinky's room. The bugs lead her to Birdboy's grotto, where she finds the golden acorns that may someday revive the island.

Cast

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Character Spanish English
Dinky Andrea Alzuri Lauren Weintraub
Sandra Eba Ojanguren Sofia Bryant
Little Fox Josu Cubero Dean Flanagan
Birdman Félix Arkarazo Jake Paque
False Dad Jorge Carrero Marc Thompson
Dinky's Mother Nuria Marín Janis Carroll
Mr. Reloggio Josu Varela Erik Scott Kimerer
Zacharias Jon Goiri Yuri Lowenthal
Zacharias's Mother Nuria Marín Cindy Robinson
Spider Maribel Legarreta Cindy Robinson
Parrot Iker Díaz Wayne Grayson
Piggy Bank Juan Carlos Loriz Joseph Whims
Sergeant Kepa Cueto Scott Williams
Young Police Josu Díaz Kyle McCarley
Little Brother Markel Kerejeta Hudson Loverro

Release

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The animation film distribution company GKIDS acquired the North American rights. GKIDS released a theatrical release of the film in its original Spanish and a dubbed English-language version in January 2018.[3][4] The film was released onto DVD and Blu-ray on March 21, 2018.[5]

Reception

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% rating based on 33 reviews with an average rating of 7.50/10. The site's critical consensus is "Birdboy's nihilistic coming-of-age narrative captures innocence lost through surreal, striking animation and caustically optimistic storytelling".[6] The film also holds a 76 rating on Metacritic.[7]

Dennis Harvey of Variety praised the film as "fascinating in its oddball complexity. Among the many vastly more expensive, live-action dystopian visions of recent cinema, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything as original or surprisingly poignant as Psychonauts."[8]

Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3/4 stars and stated that "the movie is grisly and its sense of humor is mordant", but that it "winds up communicating a heartbreak that's pretty straightforward, all things considered".[9]

Robert Adele of the Los Angeles Times said of the film that "as adult animation goes, "Birdboy" is its own weird, wooly, and surprisingly sensitive foray into the grimier corners of life" and that it also "plays like a troubled schoolkid's secret drawings brought to colorful, if unapologetically horrific, life".[10]

IndieWire's Bill Desowitz crowned it "the darkest and most daring hand-drawn animated movie of the year", also adding that "at its most subversive, Birdboy offers up a bleeding Jesus doll and ghoulish attacks of the mind and body".[11]

Megan Peters of comicbook/anime raved that the film "is a surprisingly touching one that deserves to be seen" but added that it "relishes in its surreal violence while asking audiences to watch its heroes discover what autonomy truly is".[12]

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children grossed $13,488 in Spain.[13]

Accolades

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The film won Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Goya Awards. Alberto Vázquez scored a historic win by simultaneously receiving the prize for Best Animated Short (Decorado, which was also honored at Cannes).[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  2. ^ Hopwell, John (May 12, 2017). "Gkids Acquires Spain's 'Birdboy: The Forgotten Children'". Variety. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  3. ^ Wyche, Elbert (May 12, 2017). "GKIDS boards dystopian animation 'Birdboy: The Forgotten Children'". ScreenDaily.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  4. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Dubbed In English)". Do617.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  5. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-28. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
  6. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  7. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  8. ^ Harvey, Dennis (August 6, 2016). "Film Review: 'Psychonauts, the Forgotten Children'". Variety. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  9. ^ Kenny, Glenn (December 15, 2017). "Birdboy, The Forgotten Children Review". Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  10. ^ Adele, Robert (December 14, 2017). "Not so cuddly 'Birdboy: The Forgotten Children' offers dark, satiric peek into life's grim corners". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  11. ^ Desovitz, Bill (December 12, 2017). "'Birdboy: The Forgotten Children': Inside the Year's Darkest, Most Daring Hand-Drawn Animated Movie". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  12. ^ Peters, Megan (December 22, 2017). "Review: 'Birdboy: The Forgotten Children' Uses Macabre and the Trappings of Mickey Mouse Reignite a Rebellion". comicbook.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  13. ^ "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children The Numbers Listing". The Numbers. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  14. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (February 6, 2017). "Goya Awards: Alberto Vàzquez Scores Historic Double Win". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
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