Boy and the World

Name: Boy and the World
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family
Released: December 11, 2015
Rating: 80
Cast: Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio Campos, Vinicius Garcia

2015

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Ratings

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Boy and the World (US)

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Movie Details & Credits

GKIDS | Release Date: December 11, 2015 | PG

Starring: Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio Campos, Vinicius Garcia

Summary: Cuca lives a life of quiet wonder, exploring all that the countryside has to offer. But his cozy life is shattered when his father leaves for the city, prompting him to embark on a quest to reunite his family. The young boy’s journey unfolds like a tapestry, the animation taking on greater complexity and variety as his small world expands.Cuca lives a life of quiet wonder, exploring all that the countryside has to offer. But his cozy life is shattered when his father leaves for the city, prompting him to embark on a quest to reunite his family. The young boy’s journey unfolds like a tapestry, the animation taking on greater complexity and variety as his small world expands. Simple line drawings of the village give way to broad brushstrokes forming giant bushels of cotton lining country roads and sweeps of pastel churned into roaring waves. Approaching the city, industrial landscapes are inhabited by animal-machines, whirling carnival colors and exploding fireworks fill the sky above decoupage favelas, while flashing neon advertisements and garish shop windows illuminate the night. [GKIDS]… Expand

Director: Alê Abreu

Genre(s): Adventure, Animation, Family

Rating: PG

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Critic Reviews

Nicolas Rapold

Dec 10, 2015

It’s both the best children’s animated film this year since “Inside Out” — you might call it “Outside In” — and, unexpectedly, a more stirring depiction of the deadening modern megalopolis than most heal-the-world documentaries. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

Feb 4, 2016

The make-believe world of Boy and the World is confusing, scary and gorgeous. But then again, so is the real one. Read full review

Tirdad Derakhshani

Feb 26, 2016

Emotionally engaging and unhampered by dialogue, Boy & the World will appeal to children with its deceptively simple story and its visual splendor. Read full review

Sherilyn Connelly

Dec 8, 2015

Tension between the city and the country has been a fertile topic for as long as there've been cities, and Alê Abreu's phantasmagoric The Boy and the World explores the eternal conflict in a familiar yet wholly original way. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Jan 28, 2016

What is so impressive is how deeply Abreu makes us feel what Cuca is experiencing. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Christy Lemire

Dec 11, 2015

Boy and the World is dazzlingly colorful and alive, often resembling a more elaborate version of the kind of childlike drawings you probably have stuck to your refrigerator door right now. Read full review

Carson Lund

Dec 6, 2015

One wonders how receptive young audiences should be to a film that puts its storytelling secondary to its message-making. Read full review

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User Reviews

Dudlei

Dec 11, 2015

At the same time, the movie is extremely simple in its animation, but complex in its themes. Yet, neither the simplicity makes it poor nor its complexity pedantic. Moreover, the best thing in the movie is its universal language and approach. The lack of dialogues or of a explicit language orAt the same time, the movie is extremely simple in its animation, but complex in its themes. Yet, neither the simplicity makes it poor nor its complexity pedantic. Moreover, the best thing in the movie is its universal language and approach. The lack of dialogues or of a explicit language or country makes the movie so human and universal, allowing a vast public, from different countries and ages to feel emotional with the movie.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

RafaelDB464

Feb 16, 2017

Yes. Brazilian movies CAN be good or even Fantastic! and the Boy and the World is a perfect example of it. the animation is beautiful and unique with a very silent yet touching story with no Dialogue aside from Standard Gibberish and it works with the Atmosphere in the whole movie! thisYes. Brazilian movies CAN be good or even Fantastic! and the Boy and the World is a perfect example of it. the animation is beautiful and unique with a very silent yet touching story with no Dialogue aside from Standard Gibberish and it works with the Atmosphere in the whole movie! this movie is nearly perfection and it deserves a 9.5/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

pedroassugeni

Apr 9, 2020

O filme é lindo, o design de animação é incrível e uma ótima escolha que da personalidade a obra, além do roteiro ser inteligente e profundo, só é muito parado, mas é incrível, uma pena ter perdido o Oscar

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

EpicLadySponge

Feb 28, 2016

Boy and the World doesn't deserve to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, but it does... on the hand... make up great moments and uses the best to try.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LeZee

Jul 24, 2016

We live gloriously, but we won't let the world.

The film was nominated at the 88th American Academy Awards for best animated feature and lost to 'Inside Out', but won one at Annie Awards out of three nominees. Originally from Brasil, a 80 minutes long, I mean short film, excluding theWe live gloriously, but we won't let the world.

The film was nominated at the 88th American Academy Awards for best animated feature and lost to 'Inside Out', but won one at Annie Awards out of three nominees. Originally from Brasil, a 80 minutes long, I mean short film, excluding the opening and end credits which makes it even shorter. The tale was told with the beautiful visuals and music, without any dialogues to reach the audience making no complication. Because it was not just an entertainer, but a message bearer.

The animation type was simple, yet awesome. All the drawings were done by the director himself. Totally colourful crayons sketches. It was supposed to be a documentary, but later became a feature film. The story about a boy who lives with his parents in the rural growing up loving all the wonders of the nature. He observes the changing world as his father bids a goodbye to him to look for a better job in the city, but never returned. So the curious little kid who loves his father very much takes us an adventure when industrial revolution taking place. The rest of the film tells whether he finds what he's looking for.

There were many animations got released in the same year, but this film got the Oscars nod because of the strong message. Especially in the present world this kind of film brings more awareness to the people. It focused the theme man destroying the beautiful world for the profit and dumping the waste everywhere. I am sure you might have seen several documentary films on this topic, but this one was different which was somewhat close to 'Earth 2100'. Although it talks about the past and present than the distant future.

The pollution was one of the biggest concerns today and nobody cares to curb it. The industrial revolution is not defining our progressive, but threatening to our future generation. Besides the poors are directly affected by the loss of the employment. The human development in on the right direction, but the path we have chosen was not. So by now you know it is not for just the kids. The film offers a lot for adults to learn from it than the children. But surely a film to them both watch together and have a good time.

At one point, for a quick, a few real clips were shown to let us know what the real world looks like after such thing happened as it was shown in the film. I loved the comparison between the city and the rural, from lifestyle, fading culture to everything. The real heartbreaking scene is when the boy revisits his old place to learn it is destroyed. Surely we all have similar kind of experience in our life about the place we had admired some time ago is now completely ruined.

It might have not won the Oscar or not popular as the one won, but definitely not ignorable film. All the other four nominees stood behind creativity and entertainment, but this one was with dual intention and it succeeded. It wins our heart more than any prestigious awards in the world, yet I agree the awards leads to the wider recognisation. So I urge everybody to watch it sooner or later, but never to miss it. It is not your Disney, Pixer or Ghibli films, but surely you would enjoy it. I don't know the director, but I think if he resumes with the same intensity for the future projects, he would definitely become the South American Tomm Moore with his unique animation and storytelling.

8/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Jan 22, 2019

Follow The Tune.

O Menino E O Mundo Abreu's sketchy world is the most linear and simplistic take on the current era that we all reside in. His analogy between natural and artificial lifestyle is one of the oldest battle that the artists have been resisting about and he has managed toFollow The Tune.

O Menino E O Mundo

Abreu's sketchy world is the most linear and simplistic take on the current era that we all reside in. His analogy between natural and artificial lifestyle is one of the oldest battle that the artists have been resisting about and he has managed to foliate it into a hand-drawn three dimensional world. And he is so sincere to his concept, that since the entire film takes place from a little kid's perspective, the world is hand-drawn i.e. naturally crafted out. These tiny notions is what the film is entirely brimmed of, speaking thoroughly in a subtle layered vocab, this metaphorical satire flows smooth as a river.

Since there are barely any verbal sparring, the makers speak to us through sound medium and with sharp sound effects and melodious humming tune, this film is soothing to encounter. In its first act, where you are basically trying to create a structure of what is going on, the film explores the emotional aspect of our protagonist that is the most powerful and delicate part of it, since it has to fuel for the journey it is about to embark upon.

And this dutiful son, when wanders into a city; which seems more Metropolis-ish, the emotional tap is kept on hold while the writer whips you with political satire. This is a bit that might not reach to all of its viewers, since it grows tedious and familiar to its own world, nevertheless these intentions gets wiped out instantly as it reaches for its final act. And pinning down the last thought from where it was all ignited, the family drama never lets go off the social message. O Menino E O Mundo gives you an overwhelming experience for nothing but Abreu's passion of storytelling, where at a certain point the story itself doesn't matter.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JurgenRamnball

Feb 17, 2016

"Consumerism is a bad thing that causes more bad things", that's it! You don't need to watch this crap anymore, it's the only thing the movie shows.

If you want to send a message, you don't need to make a movie for that, just write something on facebook and text it to someone, this movie"Consumerism is a bad thing that causes more bad things", that's it! You don't need to watch this crap anymore, it's the only thing the movie shows.

If you want to send a message, you don't need to make a movie for that, just write something on facebook and text it to someone, this movie is nothing but a message they used the money from my taxes to make, damn communist government.… Expand

0 of 6 users found this helpful06

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