Living Large (2024)

Plot Summary: A Czech stop-motion animation about a chubby 12-year-old named Ben (Pipetka) navigating the brutal realities of childhood obesity, bullying, and rejection, while trying to find joy in life despite being betrayed by his own body during puberty.

Director: Kristina Dufková
Written by: Petr Jarchovský, Anna Vášová, Barbora Dřevikovská
Based on: La vie, en gros (French bestseller)
Produced by: Matěj Chlupáček
Cinematography: Václav Fronk
Music: Michal Novinski

Original Czech Voices:
Hugo Kovács, Tatiana Dyková, David Novotný, Klára Melíšková

Portuguese Dubbed Version:
Alexandre Carvalho as Ben
Carolina Salles as Klara
Gonçalo Lima as Erik
André Ramos as Max
Tiago Peralta as Ben's Father

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A Trip to Espinho and a Stop-Motion Surprise

This year, I decided to take the family on a 3-hour ride to Espinho for one night, all so we could check out the 49th edition of Cinanima. It's one of the oldest animation festivals in the world, right up there with Annecy and Animafest Zagreb, but it seems completely neglected by its own country. Seriously, nobody in Portugal seems to have heard of it, which is a real pity. First off, I have to talk about Espinho. I'd never been before and I was mind-blown. It's so different from other Portuguese cities. Forget the usual winding, medieval streets—Espinho is built on a perfectly flat, geometric grid, just like a North American city. This 19th-century planned layout, plus its beautiful beach promenade, gives it a look you just don't see anywhere else in Portugal. It instantly became one of my favorite cities to visit (just be careful driving your car over there). Because of our little baby Kira, my wife and I had to take turns watching the movies. The first one I got to see with my oldest daughter was a special session of the Czech movie Living Large (Život k sežrání) by Kristina Dufková. We got comfortable in the Grande Auditório of Centro Multimeios de Espinho, the screen is huge (13x16m) and the sound system is great. The film is based on a French bestseller, La vie, en gros, a semi-autobiographical book about that awful time when kids feel "betrayed by their own bodies" during puberty. It even won the Jury Award at Annecy, so I was curious.

Watch the clip below where Ben prepares his "little" hamburger sandwich.

Ugly-Cool Puppets and Dubbing Issues

My first impression was that this stop-motion looks like a creative mix of Tim Burton and Claude Barras (My Life as Courgette). The characters are all really odd and ugly-looking, but in a cool way. I found it hilarious just watching the way their mouths moved to eat—you can see the tremendous hard work that went into this. What I didn't enjoy, right from the start, was realizing I was watching a Portuguese-dubbed version. This included the songs sung by the characters, which were all sung in Portuguese. I really didn't enjoy the songs like that. From what I've heard, the English version sounds a little better, but ideally, you should listen to these things in the language they were originally created in, in my opinion.

Check out this clip where our chubby hero, Ben, gets bullied at the swimming pool.

Great Animation, Boring Story

Story-wise, the movie got tedious and repetitive. The whole thing is just the constant bullying of the main kid, Ben (AKA Pipetka). I just didn't feel that engaged with it. Look, it's great that it tackles the issue of child obesity and tries to shove a positive, life-affirming message in your face even when you're rejected, but it did nothing for me. The plot is just: Ben eats a lot, gets bullied, eats a lot, gets bullied again, goes on a diet, gets rejected by the girl he likes, eats a lot, gets bullied, and then finally finds joy in life. Pretty boring. I asked my 7-year-old daughter what she thought, and she just said, "it was ok." The subject matter is a bit above her age, anyway; this movie is clearly more suitable for pre-teens around the character's age (12, I think). I value this movie for its fantastic stop-motion, but an equal amount of effort should have been put into creating a more engaging story. I'd only recommend this one for its technical animation work and 79 minute running time.

You can watch my favorite song in the movie below—this one was actually pretty decent in Portuguese, too.

Freddy & Eva at Centro Multimeios de Espinho

Freddy's Final Rating

61

Fantastic stop-motion work, but the story is repetitive and boring

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