Mary Shelley’s literary fecundity meets the musical stop-motion of “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” the intricacy of Gustave Doré’s “Divine Comedy” engravings and Guillermo del Toro’s gothic fantasy in “I Am Frankelda.” While del Toro advised this stop-motion production, it was written and directed by the brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz in their debut feature. If there is something of a passing (or sharing) of the torch here, the dark flame of Mexican fantasy is alive and well with los hermanos Ambriz.
A prequel to the short series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks,” this is an origin story of sorts: Who is the mysterious (literal) ghostwriter Frankelda (voiced by Mireya Mendoza), anyway? How did she become Frankelda, born Francisca Imelda, an aspiring horror writer from late 19th-century Mexico? And who was Herneval (Arturo Mercado Jr.) before he became her ornery enchanted book?
He was, as it turns out, the prince of nightmares, el príncipe de los sustos (also the title of the movie’s catchiest song). Herneval’s family reigns over the troubled Topus Terrenus, a land of nightmares straight out of Frankelda’s beloved horror stories. Her fiction is real, at least in all of the ways that matter.
This underlying story line — fiction as a way to understand reality — grounds the film when flights of fancy (and perhaps too much Topus Terrenus lore) threaten to carry it away. “I Am Frankelda” can feel overstuffed with plotlines at times, but like a plastic jack-o’-lantern bucket overflowing with candy: bright, beautiful, spooky — and ultimately, a treat.
I Am Frankelda Not rated. In Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
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