Chico Bento e a Goiabeira Maraviosa

The third live action film of characters from Maurício de Souza has good educational and environmental elements for kids and may also amuse them. The script has nice dialogue moments and thenorigin story for the guava tree was nice. The most remarkable perhaps is how much Isaac Amendoim is a skilled child actor, quite impressive. Anyway, something that happened in the two previous movies (Mônica's gang: Bonds, and Mônica's gang: Lessons) and that bored me was the lack of compromise in portraying the characters the most similar to the cartoon possible. It repeated here (not in the same level of Cascão in the other two movies; Isaac Amendoim would have been a better cast, by the way), but Zé Lelé's actor is not very similar (although the clothes and hairstyle reduce the problem a little), and Chico Bento, besides using shoes (why?! He is always barefoot in the cartoon!), looks completely different in the movie (although, as I said, the actor's performance was excellent). Adult characters were also nice, particularly Nhô Lau and Colonel Agripino. To resume, the film is cute enough, with a praiseworthy social engagement (what does not happen often in Maurício de Souza's projects, by the way), and has good performances, but is tepid sometimes and not as true to original source as I would like.

The sweetest child's movie I've seen in recent years. It's particularly special to me due to my childhood experience with the universe of Mauricio de Souza and his comic books. For Brazilians, guava also tastes like childhood, and I suspect that's what makes this movie so delightful: The kid that plays the main character is a child star with an amazing performance for his age. The creative solutions for producing a live action from a comic strip universe presented in the movie have a breath of innovation and innocence that lightens the heart. Great job with maintaining the original references from the books, and use of cartoons for the dive in dream works was simply beautiful, well done and of geniality. Great job!

Adapting comic books is quite a challenge, especially for an iconic character like Chico Bento, present in the childhood of millions of Brazilians. Those responsible knew this and took extra care, preferring to be faithful to the work rather than risk doing something "modern", at the pace of today's world: it is in simplicity that depth is found. Chico Bento is a defender of nature and its roots in confronting such savage progress, but he doesn't know how to act. Together with his classmates at Vila Abobrinha, he learns, by force, what his role is. Director Fernando Fraiha has the delicacy to talk about important topics lightly, with good humor, without didacticism or moral lessons. The round script creates an interesting and inventive arc. The animated scenes are one of the best I've seen in Brazilian cinema, they alone are worth going to the cinema, and all the secondary characters are authentic, well constructed, not just the main one. I confess that in some scenes I didn't understand the caipirês, yet another reason to watch it again and appreciate the film better. Critics have been generous, with lots of praise, let's see if the general public will enjoy it. It's not often that, in this world full of violence and disagreements, we can go back to childhood, be naive for an hour and a half.

I can't help but comment that I really liked it. Everything about Monica's Gang and Mauricio de Souza is good... because it has a very strong history with Brazilians, everything is done in a special way and is enjoyable to follow.

The script is simply fantastic. Based on the comics, it has a balanced and sensational script. Another important point is the message it conveys about being a person who speaks more often than not.

I really liked the entire filming area; truly beautiful locations, and a clear message to take care of nature and show that everyone has a role.

The cast is very good overall, very natural and not forced. The graphics are good, and the camera angles were really interesting. I'm looking forward to watching everything about Monica's Gang, and it's really cool. Everything is really good.

I admit I cried a little here, the whole rhythm of the story and its characters reminded me so much of my childhood.

I learned how to read with these little stories and seeing the respect with which they were treated fills my heart with joy and pride. Simply beautiful, simply the part where I feel proud of being a country boy and being Brazilian. And this is what this movie is... Simple and pure... The characters made they work perfectly, showing one of the most beautiful parts of our land, they are the simple folk of Brasil, like my grandma, my uncles, my parents, myself... I never feel so represented like this, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.