Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92% (Critics) / 77% (Audience)
Directed By: Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal, and Fernando Trueba
Written By: Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Fernando Trueba
Starring: Eman Xor Oña, Limara Meneses and Mario Guerra
Studio: GKIDS

Synopsis: Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment. (Source)

The Good:
The music is wonderful in CHICO & RITA. I am not even the biggest jazz fan (but love Latin music) but I was incredibly impressed by every song that played throughout the film. The music was like another character and there were no missteps in how it was used.
I also loved the art style. The crisp, clean hand drawn lines looked like art from an independent comic book come to life and enhanced the story completely.
The insertion of real life musical legends in various spots in the film was also a nice touch.

The Bad:
The love story at the heart of the movie is not the most original I have ever seen.

The Ugly:
The ending, while bittersweet and I’m guessing supposed to be a happy one, really bummed me out.

Final Verdict: CHICO & RITA is a delightfully charming animated musical love story. While the love story at the chart of the film is flawed it does a very serviceable job and even the flaws in that area are easily overlooked thanks to the appealing art style and the top notch music that plays as the soundtrack for the volatile relationship between the title characters. Plus it was nice to watch a truly adult animated movie in the vein of the types of films Ralph Bakshi was famous for making and this grown up cartoon was very richly deserving of it’s Oscar nomination. B+