Gotta be honest, it was better than I was expecting.
20 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Condorito" might not be very well-known in the United States, but it's a very iconic character in many Latin-American countries, being one of the most easily recognizable comic-book character from this side of the world.

Considering that it's a very old comic, is not surprising that most of its humor could be seen as way too childish and simple for modern audiences (Some jokes occasionally include elements of adult humor and innuendo, though.) I enjoyed reading it during my childhood, and I still enjoy reading it from time to time even when the issues produced in the recent years had a severe decline in quality.

With that being said, I only had very low expectations towards this movie: The first promotional images looked awful (I'm glad that those early versions of the main characters were changed for the actual movie, since the original CGI versions of Condorito and Coné were both Uncanny Valley nightmares.) and the teaser trailers looked forgettable at best.

However, when I finally decided to give it a chance, this animation turned out to be an acceptable adaptation of its source material. The plot it's a bit too childish and the CGI was quite average, but there were more than one scene where it managed to make me chuckle in the same way the comic does.

As it was expected, a couple of elements from the original comic (like some jokes that would be considered inappropriate or politically incorrect for modern audiences) are toned down here, and like in many other animated films from the recent years, there were a couple of obligatory sappy sentimental moments, but the overall result was still adequate.

In my opinion, the most negative aspect from the movie was the voice of the main character, which felt a little bit awkward in more than one scene and didn't fit his personality. It was a minor detail, but I can understand why it would bother some viewers.

Another negative aspect is that the movie only focuses in a reduced number of characters from the original comic (The most easily recognizable ones) in order to give more screen-time to the new characters. I guess this detail could be forgiven for the sake of narrative, but at least some cameos of some secondary characters would have been nice (Of all those secondary characters, only one of them appears in a non-speaking role)

Despite that, I still appreciate the overall result. Adapting a character like Condorito to big screen in a way it appeals to modern audiences while keeping its very particular identity wasn't an easy task (And let's be honest here: This movie could have been way worse) but it managed to be an OK flick for kids.

I guess for those viewers who never read the original comics or those viewers who are aware of the existence of the comics but simply don't care about this, this might be just another generic CGI movie with very little to offer. But for those viewers who grew up reading Condorito comic, this might be at least a somewhat interesting watch.

And for all its flaws, I definitely enjoyed this far more than the atrocious "Boss Baby" mess from Dreamworks.
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