Chico and Rita

Chico and Rita is a film that promises at first glance to be a real breath of fresh air: an animated film not aimed at the children’s market, making it all too precious and rare in an industry where almost every non-live action title is aimed primarily at the under tens. This unfortunate fact makes this colourful and stylised work stand out from the crowd and appear to offer so much - after all, how often do you come across mature animated love stories celebrating the world of post-war jazz?

Set in the bars and clubs of pre-revolutionary Cuba and New York, the story follows the doomed romance of the two titular musicians, their lives and their essential failure to end up happy and with each other. This plot does work relatively well since the protagonists develop quickly into thoroughly authentic characters whose aspirations, triumphs and failures are thoroughly believable and seem incredibly human. However, unfortunately the same cannot be said of the supporting cast, as Chico’s friend Ramon feels a little underwritten, with his actions and character development needing greater emphasis and scrutiny. The result is that you cannot help but feel that the opportunity to look into a rich subplot is lost and that the central theme therefore weakens. Yet perhaps biggest problem is that the film suffers from being clichéd and predictable, not in terms of animated films but in terms of tales doomed romance. Chico and Rita follows some all too traditional methods, such as opening the tale with Chico remembering and regretting all that he has lost when hearing an old record he recorded with his love.

Where the film does triumph though is in its sense of time and place, created by its animated visuals that help mark this cliché-ridden story out from the crowd. Admittedly, they may not have the same sheer level of artistry that comes from the likes of the wondrous studio Ghibli, but their use of brilliantly bright colours really helps bring the story to life and give it a real sense of daring by trying something new. At the same time, the film’s smooth jazz score helps to set the film’s time and place and invigorates its sense of energy, creating a real celebration of the music. This is further encouraged by featuring animated versions of the great musicians of the age, such as Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie, which help the film to revel in its deep love of jazz’s culture and artistry.

This said, Chico and Rita feels a little disappointing, starting out with so much promise but failing to deliver quite what many in the audience hoped for. However, this is not to say that it’s a bad film, for despite its clichéd plot, the visuals and the film’s real love of its subject matter really do come through to make for a solid and enjoyable piece of work, but one you can’t help feel should have been better.

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