Netflix And Chill: Zip & Zap And The Captain's Island (2016)

If there are any people who have read my reviews consistently over the years, and you should really get yourself checked out if you have, then you may recall that I was lucky enough to catch a film entitled Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang a few years back at EIFF. It was a real treat, a film for all the family that felt very akin to many of the movies I grew up with. There were many moments in which kids outwitted adults, and there was also a very real sense of danger for our young heroes. I have spent a lot of time since regretting that the movie didn’t see any substantial release here in the UK, and I still hope that is rectified one day. Then I found THIS film on Netflix. Well, I had to give it a watch.

Director Oskar Santos returns, and also helps Jorge Lara in the writing department this time around, and he provides another fun adventure for all the family to enjoy. The movie starts off with Zip and Zap (played this time by Teo Planell and Toni Gomez, respectively) breaking in to a toy store and accidentally causing a massive fire. Their parents are understandably upset. So upset that they take the boys with them on a trip and then disappear in the night, leaving them in the care of a woman named Pam (Elena Anaya). That would be upsetting, but for the fact that Pam runs a home that's a bit of a paradise for children without families. They can do whatever they like without fear of punishment. It all seems too good to be true, which means, yes, it's too good to be true.

As well as the bare bones of the plot mentioned above, this movie adds to the fun factor with a number of references to classic characters in literature (Sherlock Holmes, The Invisible Man, Peter Pan, etc) and it's all woven together into a nice mix of adventure, mystery, and nods to classic tales.

Kids will find plenty to enjoy, but parents will also have fun, much like the previous film. Okay, the grown-ups may catch on quicker to how everything is going to play out, but that doesn't spoil the fun. Santos directes with the same energy and eye that he brought to the previous film, and the script that he worked on with Lara is just the right mix of fun and child-friendly danger. Both of his Zip & Zap movies manage to keep things pitched perfectly at kids without ever feeling as if they are talking down to them.

Planell and Gomez are fun in their roles, and Anaya has a lot of fun in the role of Pam. There's nobody doing bad work here, although I will give specific praise to the other main child actors and Goizalde Nunez, playing a wonderfully unstable carer, all twitches and guitar destruction when faced with excessive misbehaviour from the kids before she goes back to innocent smiles and quivering composure.

While it doesn't quite capture the magic that ran throughout Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang, this is a film almost just as deserving of your time and attention. If you have youngsters who don't mind reading subtitles, the Zip & Zap movies make for a perfect double-bill. I might even check out the animated series and movie from over a decade ago. IF I can find them.

8/10

Here's a copy of the Marble Gang adventure.
And here it is for Americans.