★★★1/2 Based on a successful series of children’s books, this fable of a family that meets a singing crocodile tries – not always succeeds – to recover the shapes, colors and modes of animated films, mimicking children’s illustration , and at the same time have several morals: the value of the family, of friendship, of the acceptance of (and of) what is different, and several etceteras. Filled with songs – it’s basically a musical, and even a backstage musical, one of the great creations of classic Hollywood – it works well, although at times it feels too childish. Javier Bardem understands the game well (whose ductility at this point is to take off his hat) and not so much some other members of the cast. In any case, there is a problem that already seems endemic: the need to leave at all costs a single teaching (the moral or morals we talked about above), which unnecessarily weigh down what is clearly understood anyway. And yes, the hand of Lynn Manuel-Miranda is noticeable in the music (we will have to get used to it, although she is far from being Cole Porter, precisely).
