Minuscule 2: Funny insects [Critique]

Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud sign a major sequel to their saga, epic, emotional and visually stunning. To (re)watch this Sunday on 6ter.

Early 2014, Minuscule – Valley of the Lost Ants demonstrated through excellence the French know-how in 3D animation, and in particular that of the Futurikon studio, an emulator of Mac Guff Line, the French studio linked to Illumination Entertainment. In less than 1 hour 30 minutes, Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud delivered a fantastic adventure story anchored in the real landscapes of the Mercantour park, told from the point of view of endearing insects, which brutally made all the small-scale films of the same type seem old-fashioned, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids has Arthur and the Minimoys.

Suffice to say that a sequel was eagerly awaited. The sequel arrived on screens in 2019, and its two ambitious directors wanted it to be even more surprising and epic by transposing the action to Guadeloupe, where the unfortunate ladybug accidentally lands, and her friends, the ant and the spider, will try to save her from her sad fate. Sad? Not really when you know the passion and resourcefulness of the little protagonists of the saga, cut out to get out of the worst situations. Here is our review of this very pretty animated film to (re)watch this Sunday on 6ter.

TEEN MOVIE VS BUDDY MOVIE
The film opens with a somewhat solemn score, which gradually takes on an impressive symphonic dimension, worthy of Fantasia, as the familiar setting of Mercantour is revealed. Signed by Mathieu Lamboley, this exceptional score (we weigh our words) embodies the challenge of this new adventure, marked by an extension of the Minuscule Universe. Humans, reduced to silhouettes cut out in the original television series, this time take a fairly active part in the plot since it is, for example, because of them that the ladybug finds itself prisoner in a cardboard box bound for Guadeloupe – a model of slapstick sequence, spoiled by the trailer. Let us specify in passing that the ladybug in question (we checked) is not the one from the previous episode but her child. This scriptwriting trick allows the directors to dig a little deeper into the theme of emancipation at the heart of the saga. This time, it is about telling the story of the passage to adulthood of the said ladybug, torn between her filial love and her budding love for a fellow creature. A classic dramatic device exploited with enough intelligence and poetry to arouse empathy in young and old. In parallel with this central plot, another one with the accents of a buddy movie unfolds. The ant and the spider, who have become friends, board a flying ship and go through a thousand adventures that will finally take them to Guadeloupe. Up There, Pinocchio, The Odyssey of Homer and Terry Gilliam are summoned in this other story with delirious ambition, which nevertheless fits quite naturally into the whole – to which we will forgive a conventional and late arc which links the saga in extremis to its ecological obligations.

VISUAL GLARE
In five years, the tools have evolved and the cinematographic language of the directors with it. Camera movements (rare in the 1st) and digital renderings reach peaks of virtuosity here. The complexity and variety of the critters and Caribbean settings offer a unique viewer experience, redoubled by the authors' desire to create a realistic universe, permeable to the marvelous. As in this scene where an underground meeting among majestic caterpillars is suddenly adorned with a striking fantasy atmosphere. We could be in Guillermo Del Toro. An enchantment.

Minuscule is a capital film for everyone [critique]