A real page turner of the nightmarish world this young woman creates.
“I Am Frankelda” is Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature, and it almost plays like a bizarre cross between “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Corpse Bride,” “Little Women” (2019), and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” At least that’s how I’m viewing it-the main heroine who loves books and is judged by most people as crazy, the songs which have a certain Danny Elfman feel, and the fantasy worlds-though too complicated for little kids to understand, are nonetheless remarkable and daring.
The main heroine is Francisca Imelda (voiced by Mireya Mendoza), who, in spite of her mother’s death, strict grandmother, and mocking children, loves writing stories about a nightmarish world known as the Topus Terrenus. Her mother did tell her that the world exists as long as she paints it on a canvas. And from a parallel dimension, it does exist. Proof of that is when one of her characters a humanoid owl of sorts named Prince Herneval (voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr. and sung by Luis Leonardo Suárez) finds a portal to her human world. His world is on the brink of desolation, because new nightmares are needed, and the royal advisor and nightmare teller Procustes (voiced by Luis Leonardo Suárez), who is a giant hairy spider, has lately been providing derivative material.
Herneval is able to bring Francisca’s blue consciousness to his world, and since she uses her pseudonym Frankelda (a cross between Francisca and Imelda, but you already get the word play), it would have sense that she would have a white stripe in her hair like the Bride of Frankenstein. He wants to save his world with her haunting stories. Since Procustes doesn’t want to lose his power, it would also make sense that he would manipulate her into thinking her material is garbage and that the prince is using her. And since she’s technically a ghost of sorts, it would also make sense that when she’s angry, her face morphs with ghoulish looks. That couldn’t be more expressive.
At times, it’s hard to see the characters standing in some dark places, because they look so real that they practically blend in with the backgrounds, but there’s plenty to see in “I Am Frankelda.” There are clouds with hands moving, nightmares that blend reality with fantasies, and a rat-alligator goblin or whatever the Hell it is melting like Major Arnold Toht in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” You know what? I can’t even label the monsters in this movie, they’re so nightmarish and colorful. I can, however, admit the character development, textures, and designs of Frankelda and Procustes. She’s as glowing as her personality, and maybe on a different level, she might want to be best friends with Belle. And given my arachnophobia, I wouldn’t want to touch the villain (I hate touching spiders, even on pictures), and he seems to be modeled on old fashioned Disney villain.
I’m told this movie is a prequel to a Latin American Cartoon Network series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks” created by the brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz Rendon. They both wrote and directed this movie version with Guillermo Del Toro serving as a mentor figure, and it makes absolute sense, because of how he brought “Pinocchio” to new heights through stop-motion animation. Here, they tell such a challenging story, that anticipation is required. We need animated features to depart from cliches. In fact, the villain is criticized for his cliches. And therefore, the film wants none of them.
The movie is released on Netflix in both English and Spanish, but I only watched it in its native language for the authenticity and it sounds lovely. The characters and songs would also be worthy of a Tim Burton animated feature, and the “Prince of Spooks” number clinches it. It’s all within the tone, the extravagance, and the emotions. Now, this is a psychedelic trip to the Topus Terrenus.
Now Streaming on Netflix
