Criticism of Little Nicholas: the most tender, beautiful and exciting animated film of the year

Anyone familiar with the “Le petit Nicolas” book series will greatly enjoy this film… those who haven’t enjoyed it yet will have one more reason to approach them (and put them in front of the little ones), as they will discover the ins and outs of their creation and at the same time they will enjoy some of their funniest adventures: Little Nicholas It is a gift for the senses.

We are, neither more nor less, than before one of the best animated movies of the year, not only because it is directed with care and knows how to take advantage of both the techniques used and the possibilities of “making little Nicolás jump from the page” to question its creators, but also because of the values ​​it transmits.

Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre have shaped this tribute to Rene Goscinny Y Jean-Jacques Sempéwriter and illustrator of the books of Little Nicholaswhich has a script co-written by Michel Fessler and Anne Goscinny, René’s daughter and novelist who, in addition to having her own work, manages her father’s.

And we must praise both the exquisite work of the animators Juliette Laurent and Julien Maret as well as the script to the extent that it manages to move us through time to understand the roots of both, their friendship and how their experiences, their personal journeys and their desires ended up permeating his work.

Despite the fact that we are facing a film designed for all audiences, no element is eliminated from the equation: topics as transcendental as war or the premature death of Goscinny, who at 51 years old died leaving behind characters as memorable as asterix, lucky luke either iznogoudamong others.

Sempé, by the way, passed away shortly after Little Nicholas will be presented in a special session at the Cannes Film Festival and he says in the credits as graphic author of the film, in such a way that it is a posthumous work that also comes to vindicate all the qualities he always had: the joy of living, wit and tenderness.

Thus, the most important moments in the lives of these men who never stopped being children on paper are shown and thanks to that they reached the hearts of millions of people around the world. The combination of their talents gave birth to immortal characters and that gives the film a quality of instant classic that will never go out of style.

The musical section is not neglected either, with the composer ludovic bource in front of the soundtrack, which accompanies and complements the images so well and whose best-known work before is the OST of The Artist.

Little Nicholas He also makes use of some metalinguistic artistic strategies such as making the characters “come alive” or showing the brushes tinting the drawings when night falls. He even makes very creative use of color by making the characters lose their chromatic palette when they move towards the edges of the image to return to being simple pen strokes.

But the element that will really touch the hearts of the spectators is the fact that the child himself chats with Sempé and Goscinny and discovers through those conversations with them some basic concepts such as family, friendship, love or loss. .. yes, without ever leaving aside that bright side of life in which he has perpetuated himself.

That singular school, with its friendly and attentive teacher, the summer camps, the troops of friends with all kinds of personalities and the mischief and mischief typical of a happy childhood. It is incredible how many aspects the film addresses in its 82 minutes of footage and the indelible emotional imprint it leaves after viewing.

Like few others, he combines the most sympathetic themes with others of great depth without ever losing focus and leading us to relive that joyous sensation of investing time well in a work of great artistic and didactic quality at the same time. A joy, with all the letters, that we recommend you enjoy on the big screen no matter how old you are.