Chico & Rita
Magic Light Pictures | Release Date: February 10, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 29, 2012
It's hot and sweet and made with inspiration and cheek. And it is not your children's animated fare -- which, in this case, is a recommendation. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonFeb 8, 2012
The characters are simply rendered, but when it comes to capturing cities and scenes, the cinematography takes on the color and detail of a Mexican street mural. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 8, 2012
This is definitely animation for grown-ups - its look is voluptuous, sexy and sultry; its Latin-inflected Dizzy Gillespie sound is seductive; and its story of young lovers whose passions are tested is timeless. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 9, 2012
A dazzling and delightful work of modernist animation, a classic movie romance and a hip-swinging, finger-popping tale of musical revolution, Chico & Rita is the first big serendipitous surprise of 2012. Read full review
90
MovielineStephanie ZacharekFeb 9, 2012
This is the kind of sophisticated storytelling you rarely get even in live-action movies any more, full of unexpected turns and unruly human complications. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsApr 6, 2012
When a place and its people are this stylish, we can't help but be drawn to them. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 22, 2012
The music is terrific. Idania Valdes dubs Rita's sensuous, smoky singing voice, and the film is essentially constructed as a musical. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 10, 2012
Chico and Rita beguiles first and foremost as a bebop romance that evokes a bygone era as well as, or maybe even better than, "The Artist." Read full review
85
NPRBob MondelloFeb 15, 2012
The picture's real achievement though, is the warmth it brings to the music that animates the lives of these Afro-Cuban characters. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 7, 2012
You've never seen anything like Chico & Rita, simply because that jubilant palette and likeminded jazz soundtrack embraces its predictability with such vitality. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 14, 2012
It's called Chico & Rita, but their film could just as easily have been titled "Chico & Cuba." In both cases, it's a film are about a long-lost love, and in both cases it is steeped in such a pitch-perfect sense of place -- and affection -- that you can almost smell the cigar smoke as it unfolds. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 9, 2012
Sexy, sweet and laced with a sadness at once specific to its place and time and accessible to anyone with a breakable heart, Chico & Rita is an animated valentine to Cuba and its music. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'HaraFeb 3, 2012
A delightful blend of hand-drawn animation and CG style that'll be soul food for hopeless romantics everywhere. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberFeb 3, 2012
It's a pleasure to surrender to the movie's lush visuals, which are accompanied by wonderful jazz classics performed by Valdes, Estrella Morente, and Freddy Cole (Nat King Cole's brother), among many others. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMar 22, 2012
Every decade or so, someone proves animation can tell a serious adult story. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 15, 2012
An intoxicating, world-class collaboration between a filmmaker (Spain's Fernando Trueba), two artists (designer Javier Mariscal and animator Tono Errando) and a musician (Cuban pianist/bandleader Bebo Valdés). Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoFeb 16, 2012
The film boasts an original score by Cuban pianist and composer Bebo Valdés, who was featured in "Calle 54." Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Fiona MorrowFeb 9, 2012
This sexy, pulpy, very grown-up film is not your usual best animated feature material. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesFeb 23, 2012
The rudimentary 2-D animation doesn't allow for much character nuance, and the story isn't exactly fresh. But directors Fernando Trueba (Calle 54), Javier Mariscal, and Tono Errando conjure up some vibrant set pieces. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeFeb 7, 2012
The result has only a loose resemblance to Valdés's story - though real-life figures including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and a Cuban songstress who bears some resemblance to Rita Montaner are featured as characters - but it's a dazzling thing to behold. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 1, 2012
A likable but cliched star-crossed romance set along the post-WWII Havana-New York jazz axis, the Spanish-made film features terrific music, passable artwork, and characters who stubbornly refuse to become more than sketches. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 10, 2012
The real romance here is between the filmmakers and the cultural moment they hope to document. From that perspective, it's a welcome - if not quite award-worthy - valentine. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen GarrettFeb 7, 2012
The boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl-and-turns-heartbreak-into-great-art plot is as hoary as they come, but Mariscal's eye-popping artwork and the evocation of a bygone musical era (Charlie Parker at the Village Vanguard, Tito Puente at the Palladium) are delirious. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 6, 2012
Think of Chico and Rita as a test, one that gauges whether your love of Cuban jazz can exceed your threshold for lousy animation -- a real "good tunes/bad toons" quandary. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineMark KeizerFeb 3, 2012
The blistering tunes and unique animation compensate for the rather unconvincing central love story that works best as a Forrest Gump-ian device to highlight some legendary real-life musicians. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 29, 2012
The very best animation can excite the senses and inflame the imagination. But Chico & Rito's charmless line drawings just made me wish the film was live-action instead. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezFeb 5, 2012
A shallow romanticization of Batista-era Cuba -- when the nation was a tropical paradise for the delectation of American jetsetters -- and what the revolution left in its wake. Read full review
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