Birdboy: The Forgotten Children

Enthralling and effortlessly relevant, Birdboy is a searing contemporary fantasy, and often unrelenting in its savage attacks on greed, acquisitiveness, the disposable society, and some not-so-subtle jabs at Spanish Catholicism.

The drawing style bears no resemblance to Japanese anime, yet the narrative tone is remarkably similar, with cute and sinister elements held in suspension by a deadpan cool.

An animated movie about troubled teens, and quite possibly for them as well, because it's so very like them: alternately sweet and scary, tender and violent, dense and scattered, and oh yes, childlike and adult.

And though its dark riches can at moments feel like overload, and its narrative thrust occasionally grows diffuse, the story casts an undeniable spell.

This is a beautiful film, and an ugly one, and the tension between those two sides doesn't abate until the very last scene.

An oft-grisly and always visually dazzling allegorical fantasy that puts funny animals in a post-dystopian semi-wasteland.

A true Spanish animation gem, full of fascinating and disturbing imagery with a devastating story that warns us against the future we are building for new generations. [Full review in Spanish]

With Birdboy, the techniques and tools of cinema allow Vázquez to realize the strongest possible version of a story adapted many times.

A film that's easier to respect than to like, filled with dazzling artwork but saddled with a scattered story that doesn't always connect on an emotional level.

I guarantee you it will be a film experience unlike any you've had before and that has to count for something.