One of the nice things about having an Oscar category for best animated feature — an award which has been in existence for just the last 15 years — is the way it allows obscure or offbeat movies get their place in the cartoon sun.
Big films from Disney and DreamWorks snag their spots. But you also get the kind of outliers that snuck into the category this year.
Pixar has “Inside Out,” and that’s surely the favorite for odds-takers. But there’s also room for the British “Shaun the Sheep” and the Japanese “When Marnie Was There.” A grown-up movie got in, too: Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion exercise in adult angst, “Anomalisa.”
The other nominee would probably have had very limited exposure in the U.S. were it not for the Oscar nomination. “The Boy and the World” comes from Brazil, and it has a quirky, freewheeling style. It’s not exactly for children, but some kids will have fun with its kaleidoscopic kookiness.
Director Ale Abreu loves his crayons. A whole box of them — I think every color is used in the first five minutes.
We follow the exploits of a round-headed little boy, whose face looks a bit like a wall socket. Sad because his father leaves him, the lad hits the road in search of his missing parent, eventually arriving in a dazzling city that might be in the middle of a carnival.
The story is supposed to be simple, so there isn’t much more plot than that. What little dialogue there is comes in mumbly little bursts (it’s actually Portuguese played backwards.) But there’s a lot to look at.
Watching “Boy and the World” is like having the lyrics to “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” come to life for 80 minutes. Sometimes the screen is filled with abstract thingamajigs and doohickeys, sometimes it’s filled with sweeping views of city or countryside.
The little hero’s journey leads to an environmental message, which the movie punctuates with live-action footage of garbage and pollution — so ugly it makes a distinct contrast with how pretty the rest of the movie looks.
It’s almost enough to pull the movie together. For me it wasn’t quite sufficient, despite how trippy the visuals are. But if you prize that kind of thing, “Boy and the World” will truly fill your eyes.
“The Boy and the World” (2½ stars)
One of this year’s Oscar nominees for animated feature, this Brazilian film isn’t strong on story, but it does have incredible visuals. From abstract design to dazzling cityscapes, this is like seeing “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” for 80 minutes.
Rating: PG, for subject matter
Showing: SIFF Film Center
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