A young woman discovers that the story she’s been writing is real as she helps a prince save his kingdom in the imaginative, wonderful stop-motion film I Am Frankelda, presented as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Quite frankly, I Am Frankelda is a wonder. It’s a massive undertaking of gorgeous stop-motion animation, constantly impressing with the incredible detail and sheer largess. It has a great world in which to build these wowing designs, with an engaging story filled with beautifully dark sensibilities.
The first stop-motion feature from Mexico and extended from the TV series Frankelda and the Book of Spooks, I am Frankelda is a movie made for me. It’s a movie about the importance of storytelling and the hows and whys of it. It has a kid-friendly dark edge with a love of family movie horror, and as noted, amazing animation. I Am Frankwelka is a joyous melding of Guillermo del Toro, Laika, and Rankin-Bass. The del Toro shouldn’t be a surprise, as writer-directors Arturo & Roy Ambriz were proteges of the Mexican master of the macabre.
Okay, I’ve been gushing too long and need to hit the details of why I’m in love. The story follows the titular Frankelda. She’s frustrated in her waking world, under the thumb of oppression nd not allowed to actively follow her writing passion. She’s a fun character, feisty and energetic, refusing to be put down. She’s writing what she thinks is a fictional kingdom. To her surprise, the magical underworld is real. It’s a kingdom of monsters, devoted to storytelling as well. They control the dreams and nightmares of the human world. Frankelda connects with Herneval, the owl-like Prince, and they learn to travel to one another’s worlds to save them both as children and again as young adults.
Her world is of gothic graveyards, churches, and cavernous mansions. His is the dream and nightmare world of massive imagination and design. She needs his help to break her metaphorical chains. He needs her help to save his family from a brewing civil war, led by a nightmare spider, Procustes. The ups and downs of their connection, the war, and working on their particular issues give a lot of plot to work through. I am Frankwelda is nearly two hours long and uses every minute. Both worlds are fully realized, especially the dream realm. The history is built in and explored, with an appreciated depth of world and character. At about the hour mark, there is a little spinning of the wheels storywise before it takes off again, but the time is used to show off more great designs, so I get it. The filmmakers made these gorgeous, and often grotesque, creatures and want to show them off.
“Nightmare spider” is not only his design – if spiders creep you out, look away, but he also literally creates the nightmares for the human world. And what gorgeous nightmares they are. His cadre of monstrous creations and creators filled my horror heart with joy. The court of terror features some of the best, fully realized creature effects I’ve seen. From the behind-the-scenes paired with the credits, we can see how much work went into creating absolutely giant puppets and methods. They are HUGE and incredibly detailed. Think of a film filled to the brim with the massive skeleton warrior of Lakia’s Kubo and the Two Strings. There is an ambitious complexity to it all, no mere maquettes existing on their own, but a connecting largeness of creativity and control. 
By the way, I am Frankelda is also a musical! The songs are fine and fun, deepening the character and plot. They are choreographed with perfect timing, quite a feat with the method of animation; it almost seems like a test of the filmmakers’ “can we take this to the next level and animate complex choreography?” Yes. Yes, they can.
I Am Frankelda is recommended for Monster Kids, those still children or remain so at heart. The Ambriz brothers and their team put their full hearts and souls into giving stop-motion life, continually impressing. I loved everything about it, from the gothic sensibilities of Frankelda’s world, the nightmare designs of the dreamscape, the stories built in, and the sheer creativity and artistry of it all. I Am Frankelda is presented through the Fantasia International Film Festival, running July 16th through August 3rd.