The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

A subtitled foreign animation film? Does it work? Well, no.

The film tells Condorito’s story, as he tries to rescue his disapproving mother-in-law from an alien emperor who has abducted her. As such, Condorito and his fiancé, Chicky, roam the galaxies to save Chicky’s mother – and the entirety of planet Earth – from the evil alien species. The film is based on a comic series, by the late Chilean cartoonist Rene Rios: he created the widely popular character Condorito, and his beloved Chicky. The film was very successful when it was released in Peru, Colombia, and Chile. This is exactly why it was released for international audiences, with English subtitles.

The film’s plot line is not really original per say: the whole going to space to save planet Earth from evil aliens is an extremely clichéd plot line, especially for an animated feature. Moreover, the fact that the film’s main character is a chicken who is living among humans makes for a story line lacking complexity; while this lack of complexity may seemingly seem ideal for the film’s young audience, in actuality it is far from ideal. Indeed, given that the film is a subtitled feature, infants should not represent the film’s main target demographic. 

This bring us to the film’s main problem: a subtitled foreign film mean that so many things will inevitably get lost in translation. This former point is especially true for a comic feature: jokes, and punch lines, are not things that translate well into other languages and cultures. Consequently, most of the “jokes” were awkward, and not so easily digestible for all audience members in general, and for younger audience members in particular. The film’s jokes may have worked well in the feature’s original Spanish language format, and the film’s huge success in Spanish-speaking countries is a testament of this. 

While the film’s animation was well executed, the female characters were depicted and communicated via two polarizing extremes; they were either extremely seductive, or completely innocent, making for a somewhat sexist animated feature. To be fair, however, this was not only the animation’s fault; it was the also the story line’s fault.

Overall, the film is not really a laugh out loud feature. There are funny moments to acknowledge but, whether or not the film is worth the time and money spent on it, is definitely debatable.