Minuscule 2: Mandibles from Far Away

Winter in France. A young ladybird is left behind when its family migrates and ends up by accident in a crate bound for Guadeloupe. Its father crosses the ocean to find it. In the Caribbean there are new insects, a different forest, and a butterfly collector. Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud direct. It is the second film in the series. The form is distinctive. The backgrounds are live action; the crew gathered nature footage in France and Guadeloupe. The insects are three dimensional animation, and the two are combined. The result is neither documentary nor animation but the place where they cross. The second distinctive choice is language. There is no speech at all. The insects make sounds, the people murmur in the background, and the narrative runs entirely on movement and noise. As a result the production needs no translation into any language. The source is a television series; Minuscule, made of short episodes, ran for a long time in France, and the features continue it. The first film was made in 2013 and won the César for best animation. Who it is for: anyone looking for animation to watch with children, and viewers who like nature films. Who it is not for: the narrative is very simple and repetitive, and for an adult there are no surprises after the first half hour.