They say that there are not two without three, and with ‘Tadeo Jones: The Emerald Tablet’ we already have in Spain our first animation trilogy. What started out as a few parody shorts about a clumsy archaeologist ended up giving rise to our own animated adventure with the first installment of ‘Tadeo Jones’.
Despite its limitations, the franchise run by Henry Cat and excited from Lightbox Animation Studios it has continued to grow with two more movies, a series, and several comics. To finish closing the archaeological adventures of Tadeo, this Friday 26 of August opens in theaters ‘Tadeo Jones: The Emerald Tablet’, that despite its ups and downs can be a good proposal to entertain the little ones in the house.
Around the world in record time
The ancient misadventures of Tadeo Jones they have been left behind and now he is fulfilling his dream of working on a real archaeological dig with a team of professionals. Although unfortunately his new companions do not take him seriously and despite having lived incredible adventures… Tadeo cannot tell them to anyone and continues to be a “mindundi”.
When he accidentally discovers an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus in the ruins of Mexico, Tadeo is thrown into a full-throttle quest to recover a powerful artifact known as the Emerald Tablet that has been lost for centuries.
With a first push from a mysterious Victoria MoonTadeo embarks on a journey that takes him from Mexico to Chicago and then through France and Egypt, with what we are facing the most international adventure of the archaeologist.
‘Tadeo Jones: The Emerald Tablet’ It presents us with precisely that, a fun quest against the clock, with a good part of the film dedicated to impossible chases with the protagonists leaving debris in their wake, puzzles of all kinds and the characteristic humor of the franchise.
Now, precisely because of all the time devoted to these sequences, the final act is left a bit lame and run over after the ups and downs in pacing mid-story.a, which almost gives the feeling that something is missing to close everything correctly.
One of lime and two of sand
It also gives the feeling that ‘Tadeo Jones’ does not finish finding the right dose between homage, parody and an epic adventure. The hodgepodge in the blender doesn’t always end up going well and sometimes we come across a few stale bits of humor, and even celebrity cameos and referential comments that arrive a few years late.
Tadeo’s adventures continue to be predictable and you see the twists coming from all sides, with a direct message that you don’t have to think about too much. Even so, ‘Tadeo Jones: The Emerald Tablet’ It’s a pretty big improvement over the previous installments of the trilogy, especially in the balance between characters and the visuals.
Yes, it is true that Sara is losing quite a bit of prominence now, but the movies have been increasing the cast more and more and the story makes real juggling games to give each character his little moment and that all the pieces fit together correctly for the final stretch of the film.
It must also be said that the new additions to the saga earn a lot and a good effort has been made to level the level of female characters, not only to be in the background but also to actively move the plot and are very well defined. Without spoilers, especially the new mummy we meet is one of the most charismatic characters in ‘Tadeo Jones: The Emerald Tablet’ and also gives us some of the best moments in the film.
What is to be appreciated is that the dubbing continues to be excellent and that, unlike other animated films that we have seen recently, it has not opted for celebrities but for voice actors with tables. If the script sometimes decays, voice actors know how to lift their lines with great enthusiasm and give their characters all the charisma and depth they needand especially Oscar Barberan is still perfect for Tadeo.
The other big section where the franchise improves a lot is in the animation, which is much more fluid and has also improved in terms of details. It still limps a bit in the textures section, but the scenarios that the film presents us with are really impressiveespecially talking about all the scenes in France and the huge Egyptian ruins.
What leaves us with a bit of a bittersweet aftertaste is a very, very short scene in 2D animation which is used to give us a bit of history about the Emerald Tablet and that on a technical level is one of the best in the entire film. So it also leaves us wanting light box dare to launch a film with this technique when he leaves Tadeo behind.
‘Tadeo Jones 3‘ gives you what you expect; an animated adventure around the world, with lots of humor and just the right dose of drama to pass the afternoon. It is especially a good bet to spend the afternoon at the cinema with the little ones, but perhaps it can be made a little heavier for viewers a few years older.