Something about this movie feels eccentric. With no dialogues still it reaches your heart. A simple, heartwarming and Adventurous story. A good watch for all age.
11 Reviews
A beautiful movie.
yogeshevolution1 March 2020
An enchanting movie, highly recommended for kids between 5 and 10 (and their accompanying parents)
ElMaruecan8212 February 2019
Strange. I don't think there's one thing I saw in the film that didn't remind of another movie yet I don't think I've seen anything like "Minuscule 2: Mandibles From Far Away" in recent years. Not even "Minuscule". It's not the 'animated movie of the year', and yet it provides a constant feeling of relaxed satisfaction despite my frustration for not having seen the original.
I missed it for two reasons: it wasn't from any major animated studios and didn't get any awards buzz and I wasn't yet a father. Indeed, this is one of these instances where having a child can be beneficial in the way it makes you venture in the kind of movies you wouldn't even have dared to watch. And what I got was something with some hypnotic backgrounds of a National Geographic documentary and an old-school cartoonish inventiveness, not to mention the heart and thrills that have nothing to envy from any Disney or Miyazaki productions.
So the film started and I think I was misled by the opening shot, it looked so real I was afraid I went in the wrong room. Then the majestic panoramic shot of the mountain followed by the forest ended with a ladybug that couldn't have been more cartoonish-looking, two eyes, two rounds and the rest is all schematic simplicity. The design is so rudimentary it looks incongruous in the middle of such realistic magnificence. I was reminded me of an early 90s cartoon paying tribute to La Fontaine's fables, it was one of these first 3D cartoon and the title was "The Geometric Fables of La Fontaine".
And like in that cartoon, there was no dialogue, only a narrator. In "Minuscule 2", I realized the communication would be all buzzing, and I noticed many kids laughing during the first humming sounds, it was like they reminded them of farting or raspberry sounds. Personally, I was annoyed, I couldn't imagine enduring one hour and half without any intelligible dialogue. But two minutes after, the lack of words sounded as natural as if it was dialogue. And I'm glad that the human part were kept without dialogue or with speeches sounding like gibberish, à la Chaplin's "City Lights", like a silent film.
So there's a friendship between a ladybug and a black ant, so it seems. I guess this is what I missed from the first film. But I just love the way the insects are portrayed with a fauna and flora of their own with and each species with its rules of behavior and communication devices. And then nothing prepares us for the fantastic trip to the Guadeloupian islands. I wouldn't spoil that because the set-up is one of the creative highlights of the film, which is saying a lot. But take word "creative" in its loose meaning: many parents and even children will see a connection with "A Bug's Life" for the animals and the setting, "Wall-E", especially the first part for the silent dialogue or for the cockroach cameo and "Up" or Miyazaki for an unforgettable flying device (the spider looking uncannily like one of Miyazaki's black soot sprites).
So the film while not a masterpiece is a fun piece of animated in its own right, not in the plot, not in the setting, but in the way it manages to be a pleasing experience for a children and their accompanying parents I saw the film with my daughter, she is five and she just loved it. She smiled at the buzzing sounds, had a jump scare with the spider, asked me if the poisonous caterpillar really existed and she enjoyed the film. There's nothing too sophisticated about it or too fancy but it manages to hit a sensitive chord to both adults and kids.
I don't know if it has the pretension to be anything more than a sweet and simple little film but within that modest ambition, it succeed admirably. In fact, it succeeds so much I would highly recommend it, it seems like the perfect movie for kids between 4 or 10. Beyond that age, they might be a bit too blasé about animated films but it would be worth giving it a try, it's not even too long to be felt like a waste of time.
So speaking for myself and my daughter, "Minuscule 2" will not be a waste of your time.
I missed it for two reasons: it wasn't from any major animated studios and didn't get any awards buzz and I wasn't yet a father. Indeed, this is one of these instances where having a child can be beneficial in the way it makes you venture in the kind of movies you wouldn't even have dared to watch. And what I got was something with some hypnotic backgrounds of a National Geographic documentary and an old-school cartoonish inventiveness, not to mention the heart and thrills that have nothing to envy from any Disney or Miyazaki productions.
So the film started and I think I was misled by the opening shot, it looked so real I was afraid I went in the wrong room. Then the majestic panoramic shot of the mountain followed by the forest ended with a ladybug that couldn't have been more cartoonish-looking, two eyes, two rounds and the rest is all schematic simplicity. The design is so rudimentary it looks incongruous in the middle of such realistic magnificence. I was reminded me of an early 90s cartoon paying tribute to La Fontaine's fables, it was one of these first 3D cartoon and the title was "The Geometric Fables of La Fontaine".
And like in that cartoon, there was no dialogue, only a narrator. In "Minuscule 2", I realized the communication would be all buzzing, and I noticed many kids laughing during the first humming sounds, it was like they reminded them of farting or raspberry sounds. Personally, I was annoyed, I couldn't imagine enduring one hour and half without any intelligible dialogue. But two minutes after, the lack of words sounded as natural as if it was dialogue. And I'm glad that the human part were kept without dialogue or with speeches sounding like gibberish, à la Chaplin's "City Lights", like a silent film.
So there's a friendship between a ladybug and a black ant, so it seems. I guess this is what I missed from the first film. But I just love the way the insects are portrayed with a fauna and flora of their own with and each species with its rules of behavior and communication devices. And then nothing prepares us for the fantastic trip to the Guadeloupian islands. I wouldn't spoil that because the set-up is one of the creative highlights of the film, which is saying a lot. But take word "creative" in its loose meaning: many parents and even children will see a connection with "A Bug's Life" for the animals and the setting, "Wall-E", especially the first part for the silent dialogue or for the cockroach cameo and "Up" or Miyazaki for an unforgettable flying device (the spider looking uncannily like one of Miyazaki's black soot sprites).
So the film while not a masterpiece is a fun piece of animated in its own right, not in the plot, not in the setting, but in the way it manages to be a pleasing experience for a children and their accompanying parents I saw the film with my daughter, she is five and she just loved it. She smiled at the buzzing sounds, had a jump scare with the spider, asked me if the poisonous caterpillar really existed and she enjoyed the film. There's nothing too sophisticated about it or too fancy but it manages to hit a sensitive chord to both adults and kids.
I don't know if it has the pretension to be anything more than a sweet and simple little film but within that modest ambition, it succeed admirably. In fact, it succeeds so much I would highly recommend it, it seems like the perfect movie for kids between 4 or 10. Beyond that age, they might be a bit too blasé about animated films but it would be worth giving it a try, it's not even too long to be felt like a waste of time.
So speaking for myself and my daughter, "Minuscule 2" will not be a waste of your time.
Lovely Silent Film
roxyemi10 May 2020
Really surprised with how much I enjoyed this film! Even though they don't have names I got quite invested in the characters and the sound track was brilliant. My kids loved it as well. The amination was simple yet effective. Really good family film.
Not worse than the first
Horst_In_Translation25 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Minuscule - Les mandibules du bout du monde" or "Minuscule 2 - Mandibles from Far Away" is a French/Chinese co-production from 2018 and 5 years after the first Minuscule film here we have the sequel that once again runs for 1.5 hours exactly pretty much. Hélène Giraud and Thomas Szabo reunite here in terms of writing the script and directing the film. There is no dialogue in here, so you can watch the film wherever you are from, even if human characters appear on a whole lot occasions from start to finish. But tehy are not talking and it feels realistic. The closest you had one human characetr come to talking is when he is annoyed and mumbling some swearing words when the insects get too close to him too many. Oh well I am kinda wrong because in the epilogue, the film takes to China all of a sudden where the shipment with the red ants landed and we hear many people constantly talking inside a restaurant. But yeah, we, i.e. the French and all other European audiences to not understand a single word. Now lets go to the key premise here. This film takes the protagonists, a pair of ladybirds, to Guadeloupe as one of them accudentally lands in a chest that is shipped to the country when trying to help his ant friends while the other witnesses it all and goes on the journey with him. And there, they meet many new characters, some friendly, others not so much. But even the unfriendly ones that somehow feel like antagonists are often more on the cute side or at least on the funny side like the big hairy spider that makes actually sounds sweeter than the ones coming from the ladybirds. But there are some scarier enemies too and this includes the red ants early on and also a bunch of hypnotic locusts. With the soundtrack coming with them, they even scared me a fully grown man a bit I cannot deny. But yeah, don#t worry, it is never so heavy that I would say you should not watch the film with your children or grandchildren. I also liked the story line how they found a new tribe of ladybirds on the island, one with a different color pattern and how one of our heroes falls in love with one of these ladybirds. I kinda expected it that he could stay on the island eventually, but when I saw him up there on that balloon ship I thought I was wrong, but eventually I was right. Let me also add here that really the sound is the film's biggest strength (apart from the looks). There are moments when it seems a bit too much and that this noise is constantly pushed upon us, especially early on, but either I got used to it or it finally gets better. The sound effects are pretty spectacular though, not just the animals, but also for example the waves or sounds made by humans etc. It would have been amazing to see a film like this get an Oscar nomination in one of the sound categories, but yeah not gonna happen obviously. You should know of course that this is a mix of live action and animation. The animals are all animated, some of the plants as well like the carnivorous plant for example, but also others. The inclusion of death is interesting here. Most of the time they were trying to avoid it altogether to make the film really kids-friendly, but not always, even if of course it is never graphic. One example that felt typical was early on when characters are stuck in a spider's web and it is so cold outside that the web is frozen and bursts releasing the flies into freedom again. So there are really many many antagonists here, not just animals like I mentioned the plant 2 sentences earlier, but there is even a shark in here, well you see him briefly only and he is not that well animated, but still it was a nice little Jonah reference. What else can I add? Oh yeah, the farting jokes. Well it is a running gag and normally not the kind of humor I appreciate. But somehow thanks to the green steam, it was kinda funny admittedly and I liked it more than I expected. The young ones will love it for sure. They will also enjoy all the animal characters' noises here, especially the ones like coming from the ladybird when he mocks characters that unsuccessfully tried to chase him down in a playful manner. You know the noise I mean. So yeah I think this was a pretty decent movie. Very creative for sure and somewhat unique in terms of the idea behind it. I hope there will be a third. This one gets a thumbs-up.
Underrated
JerylBlazikerKoh3 June 2019
It was such a shame that I watched Minuscule 2 alone in a theatre. To be fair, the movie was going to get a limited release anyway and the theatre was not a convenient location. Still, one has to wonder "Why aren't there animated films as simple and effective as this?"
Being a silent French animated film with little backstory, the story would be so unfamiliar for a regular moviegoer. However, it gives the movie a unique storytelling that you just could not get in almost any non-Pixar animated movie out there.
Animation is simple yet effective. The story? Even without the dialogue, you understand the story but you would often be surprised at times. The characters? Even without names, you still feel for them because each character was well thought out.
This movie is a feast for your senses and I left the theatre a very happy young adult. If only most animated movies would follow suit and not go for tired and unoriginal plots in the first place...
(Watched the movie at Shaw Theatres Selatar Mall, 2 May 2019)
Being a silent French animated film with little backstory, the story would be so unfamiliar for a regular moviegoer. However, it gives the movie a unique storytelling that you just could not get in almost any non-Pixar animated movie out there.
Animation is simple yet effective. The story? Even without the dialogue, you understand the story but you would often be surprised at times. The characters? Even without names, you still feel for them because each character was well thought out.
This movie is a feast for your senses and I left the theatre a very happy young adult. If only most animated movies would follow suit and not go for tired and unoriginal plots in the first place...
(Watched the movie at Shaw Theatres Selatar Mall, 2 May 2019)
Fell in love
adolloway4 May 2020
Me and my two children (5+9) watched this and I'm so chuffed they understood what was happening, especially without any words for them to understand. It was funny and sweet and just plain lovely. The story is heartwarming and had me and my eldest in tears at the end. It's beautiful
Beautiful Intriguing Story For All Ages
zac-682746 April 2020
beautifull and well done
gedasbr25 August 2020
Brilliant!
leplugin6 September 2021
Amazing!
rezaldiandika26 October 2020
Ultimate feel good factor
amandafeelashes14 April 2021
I smiled all the way through this! It is the definition of joy. My daughter (age 9) complained she didn't want to watch it at first but within minutes was glued to it, laughing and mesmerised by all the tiny characters and their adventures. Both Minuscule movies are a total delight!
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