Monica and Friends: Bonds

Floquinho, the dog belonging to Mônica, Cebolinha, Cascão and Magali, goes missing. The four children make a plan to find him and comb the neighbourhood. As the search continues, the bond between them is tested too. The subject is not adventure but the fragility of children's friendships. Cebolinha is forever trying to get the better of Mônica, and at one point that rivalry turns into something genuinely hurtful; the film resolves it without escaping into an easy reconciliation scene. The form is live action. The characters from Mauricio de Sousa's comics were brought to life with real children at this scale for the first time, and the costumes and colour stay faithful to the palette of the strips, which is why red, yellow and blue are pushed deliberately high in the street scenes. The source is the Turma da Mônica series, published for more than fifty years and read in childhood by almost everyone in Brazil. The film drew large audiences there and was followed by a sequel. Daniel Rezende directs, having previously worked as an editor on films including City of God. Giulia Benite plays Mônica and Kevin Vechiatto plays Cebolinha. Who it is for: viewers who like family films and are curious about Brazilian popular culture. Who it is not for: adults who do not know the comics; the narrative assumes the characters are familiar and some of the jokes rest on reference.