Canela

I just watched this in my Spanish class for the first time, and I was not impressed. This is on par with the Alpha and Omega sequels in my opinion.

This was a complete waste of time, and it's very clear to me the people behind this movie either didn't have too many resources to work with or just didn't care. Soundtrack is reused like there's no tomorrow, scenes just happen, the soundtrack is sometimes too loud, scenes look more goofy than they should. I can't really recommend this to anyone, plus it doesn't have a Wikipedia page, so just keep it that way and let people go on not knowing the existence of this pile of shit movie.

We found this film while browsing through the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), in their Gastronomical Film section. I was looking for films on "food" for my podcast on topical cinema. I'm glad we found it.

A few countries are blessed with stunning biodiversity and a blend of different cultures, and are well-known throughout the world for the resulting culinary traditions -- Mexico is one of them. To me, passing down traditions to the next generation is critical; a society that does not understand its past, cannot chart a meaningful path and identity going forward. That does not mean being closed to modernity or innovation; rather it means finding a balance between your cultural identity and new ideas, instead of innovating for innovation's sake.

That is the message I believe this film espouses, and that I think is worth sharing with each next generation - embrace change while keeping an eye on the compass.

My family (teenage children along with their grandparents) enjoyed the beautifully shot views and food scenes, making the work a multisensorial experience -- although admittedly we love Mexico, its colors and its cuisine. Also in part, I think several people in our family identified with certain characters, such is their familiarity (somewhat clichéd) as written. This is a feel-good, charming family movie, with many laughs, and yes, a tear or two here and there. The soundtrack is at times too loud, but that did not detract from our enjoyment of the central themes and delicious food.

In addition to Canela, many other films explore this theme - Ratatouille (animated), Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Babette's Feast, Eat Drink Man Woman, Like Water for Chocolate (also from Mexico). And since 2012, an explosion of documentaries (most recently and notably, Netflix's Street Food series). In many of these films, there is not much action, so if that's what you are looking for, you may be disappointed. Instead look to these films if you are interested in understanding culinary traditions and reflecting on the impact they have on the idiosyncracy of a people -- and vice versa.

This movie has everything and I cannot recommend it enough. Its perfect for divorced families and everything in between. The music is unique and original and it is used sparingly throughout the film at a moderate volume. The characters are all great, my favorites being Neto and Gordis. The food in the film always looks so scrumptious and I would love to shove it all down my fat gollut. The only ways I could improve this movie is by adding another hour or so for a Luis villain arc and a redemption arc for Gordis as I feel he was treated too harshly but I am sure that in Canella 2 they will add everything that is missing!!!

In conclusion I have to say that Canela may be my favorite movie of all time.

This is probably the worst film I have ever seen. Please do not watch this. The film is only an hour and a half but it feels much shorter because nothing happened in this film. Right where the second act of most films start this one ends. Whatever is there is so paper thin I did not even notice it. I could not tell what was going on most the time either so maybe there was a plot and I missed it. The story here is just so bad. The movie is horribly paced just horrible. Like they spend so long doing this one thing where nothing really seems to happen and you just wait for a plot to come but then all of a sudden stuff starts ramping up and you think finally this film is going tog et interesting and then it ends. There was so many characters that just did nothing. They are just there because they are there. Like they were just there to tell a few jokes which were unfunny even on kid's movie standards. The movie even has one of the worst messages I have ever seen geared towards kid's like this is just bad. The message is pretty much traditions is better than anything new and you can only do things the way they did in the past. You are not allowed to try anything new because you are doing it wrong. What a great message for kids to learn. Why couldn't the message be about how you should find a balance between tradition and innovation. How you need to try new things but still respect and learn from tradition. But nope kids need to learn that Innovation is bad. This is not a good message for children to see at all. I am not going to go into the acting for few reasons. I watched this film in Spanish so maybe the dubbed actors were different. Also I watched this movie a while back so I kind of forgot how the acting was but I remember it being fine maybe a bit awkward at times but there was nothing awful also probably most of the more rough moments in the film come from the bad script not the performances itself. The music in this film is just so annoying. Not the scores themselves they are fine, derivative and cliche but they are fine but the same like 2 or 3 songs are played repeatedly through the film really loud. It would be fine if the music was quieter and they did not play the same songs over and over again but that did not happen. The one thing I can honestly say is good in this movie is the cinematography it was shot in Mexico City and all the outdoor scenes honestly have some really nice scenery in the background. Also some of the shots were quite beautiful not just because of the location. But none of the cinematography in here is really that ground breaking it is still quite standard but some of the shots were the most and only enjoyable part of this movie. Do not watch this. Not if you are curious. Let's just let this film fade into obscurity where it belongs.

If you use the same music over and over again, it'll get old pretty fast.