Capture the Flag (2015) Poster

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7/10
Quite good, up to a point
neil-4765 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Three kids who play a competitive sailboarding flag-capturing game end up involved in a moon mission to stop a mad squillionaire businessman from destroying evidence of the 1969 moon landing, and reunite the father and grandfather of one of them.

This Spanish-produced CGI feature is really strange. On one level it works perfectly satisfactorily as a kids' action adventure movie. On another, it puzzles the adult viewer as it blends hyper-realistic scientific detail with things which have you going "Huh?" (not least of which is the way that NASA allows three pre-pubescent kids to wander in and out without any kind of security issues arising).

There is also a credibility mismatch between the NASA mission hardware (conventional rocket, command module, LEM) and the baddie's state-of-the-art sci-fi spaceship and its payload of heavy duty machinery. I doubt that this will trouble the intended audience, though, most of whom will be of an age with the protagonists.

This mismatch also applies on the animation side. The scientific detail is excellent, from NASA hardware to the moon's surface, gravity, and so on. But the human faces, particularly the kids, are all strangely bland, unfinished, and similar (apart from the chubby, scientific genius, incredibly annoying, ginger kid).

I can't say that I thought this was great, but I guess it would be a lot easier to think more of it if I was age 9.
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7/10
Could have done with more polish, but not bad
TheLittleSongbird8 July 2016
There are better animated films out there, let's not beat around the bush, than 'Capture the Flag', but there are far worse out there as well.

'Capture the Flag' is not a great film as such and has its flaws, instead it's a decent film that could have done with more polish. There is a lack of finesse in the quite strange character designs, that do look unfinished. And it is agreed that some of the story has its disjointed and rushed (much of the pacing is suitably efficient though) moments and that some of the scientific stuff does convolute the story and may go over most viewers' heads.

However, there are also some lovely visuals. The colours are vibrant and atmospherically textured enough, and there is a lot of meticulous detail. The music score and song choices have a really nice Spanish flavour.

While not perfect in execution, the script is amusing with some evidence of charm and heart. It also at least knows which target audience it's aiming for and makes a real effort to appeal to both children and adults, it doesn't completely succeed but still the children will have a few chuckles and like the characters and adults will appreciate the neat inside jokes and notion of the importance of family which has enough subtlety to make it too preachy in how it's delivered.

Characters while lacking depth are likable and charming enough, and they are also nimbly voiced.

All in all, could have been a better film with more polish, but not a bad film...to me actually it was pretty decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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5/10
almost good non-Hollywood animation
SnoopyStyle18 October 2016
Billionaire energy magnate Richard Carson III claims that the moon landings were faked. He also claims that NASA rejected his father and vows to be the real first man on the moon. In truth, he's trying to mine Helium-3 on the moon which could be the next great power source and super weapon. The American President decides to dust off an old museum 40 year old Saturn rocket. Mike Goldwing is a wind boarding kid with his friends Amy and techie Marty who has Igor the lizard. His father is picked to be the astronaut for the moon mission. His former astronaut grandfather Frank reluctantly joins all the old crews who are the only experts left in the old rocket. Frank has gone into retirement isolation and estranged from his family ever since he was left off the last moon launch. Mike works to close the family rift and end the family curse by sneaking onto the NASA launch. Only Carson had sent a saboteur.

This is a Spanish animated movie. The animation is good but not at the best Hollywood levels. It's better than TV but not the best of theatrical fare. The story has some positives. The characters are good and I like the kids. The lizard in a spacesuit is stupid. The premise itself has potential but some of it is stupid. An accidental launch is reminiscent of an 80's kids movie. It doesn't make much sense that the kids would break into NASA anyways. The other big noticeable difference is the lack of celebrities doing the voice-work. The modern animated movie needs the celebrities for promotion. It's probably money well spend and this movie fails to do that.
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Wrong cast list shown!
MissDxx21 December 2019
Wrong cast given on movie Capture the Flag (2015) It should be the English actors who are on the film credits shown and not Spanish dubbers.

Lead English cast:

Lorraine Pilkington Sam Fink Phillippa Alexander Rasmus Hardiker ....

Check with the production company if necessary!
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6/10
nicely animated family adventure
LetsReviewThat2610 July 2022
This was a nice film. The animation was neat, although the characters looked a little odd sometimes they were still fun to watch. The plot worked well as Almost a redemption story. It was a fun little family adventure and overall a nicely made movie.
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3/10
OK for kids but instantly forgettable
colinlomasox7 March 2016
For every Inside Out there are a hundred Capture the Flag's. Considering the absurd amount of time and effort an animation feature takes to produce it's surprising that so often such little effort is made with the script and character development. Where animation masterminds Pixar really excel, putting technology aside for one moment, is how perfectly they make you connect with their characters, and this is no more obvious than when you watch a film where this simply doesn't happen. Home failed miserably with a great cast simply because all of the characters were so utterly annoying, Big Hero 6 an example of the contrary. The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 are both out in the next few years and people (adults and children) care, and there's a reason for that.

A great commercial animation should be judged on its ability to fascinate the kids, gratify the parents yet produce something that is more than a kids film which gratifies the parents; a movie that stands on its own as an objective piece of work, not something that qualifies as a two hour cheapo Saturday morning outing for dads. Capture the Flag is a perfect example of the type of tripe that will saturate the throwaway Sunday one pound a seat mini-mornings across the UK multiplexes for months to come.

The film focuses on the Goldwing family; grandad Frank who missed out on his one chance to land on the moon, his son Scott, a potential astronaut on the ever pushed-back NASA missions and Mike, the youngster trying to reconcile his dad and grandad who haven't spoken for years for reasons initially unknown. A naughty billionaire, Richard Carson, attempts to discredit the initial moon landings as a diversion to his plans to mine Helium-3 from the satellite as an endeavour at super-villainy world energy control, and thus it quickly becomes super villain versus the Goldwings. There is potential for some good story lines here yet the film concentrates purely on silly action sequences and the child action- buck rather than anything remotely interesting.

The film does try and engage its older audience at times, specifically with a clip of the not-dead Stanley Kubrick, working for Carson, directing a faked moon landing, but that's about it. The storyline is disjointed and rushed, and at no point feels like one you care about the outcome of.

The other annoyance is that some of the main characters are so visually similar to characters from other films; Carson is almost identical in mannerisms and looks to Syndrome from the Incredibles, Frank Goldwing is basically Professor Callaghan from Big Hero 6 and Mike Goldwing's young sister is a lazily recreated version of Boo from Monsters Inc. It may seem fastidious to point out such similarities but it enhances the feeling of indolent character development that is such a persistent irritation throughout.

Sometimes it feels harsh critiquing a film that is so obviously a throwaway movie directed at keeping kids vaguely amused for ninety minutes, but for all that Capture the Flag is a dull incidental movie that no-one will ever remotely remember.
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5/10
I can't get over this fact
stephaneekopple19 February 2019
The characters faces seemed to be off to me. It's because no one has eyelashes!!!! I just can't get over this. It just makes every character look so off. I can't focus on anything else.
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8/10
Amusing and charming adventure about a little boy who travels outer space and lands in moon
ma-cortes8 July 2017
Great movie that contains brilliant and enticing animated pieces that have the rare quality of appealing both , youngsters and adults but on different levels . Good animation movie in magnificent visual style about the amazing adventures of three kiddies who aboard a space shuttle in NASA . It stars Mike (voice by Danny Rovira) a valiant 12 years old boy who embarks on a fantastic moon trip to defeat a nasty and ambitious villain . Accompanied by his grandfather , a forgotten retired astronaut ,and his sweetheart Amy (voice by Michelle Jenner) and an amusing chameleon with delusion of giant monster-like grandeur, arrive in the moon to take the US Flag and join his family. Meanwhile,the headstrong surfer Mike has to confront a ruthless billionaire who is planning a scheme to rewrite history and excise the feats of the Apolo XI and the moon landing.

This is a high quality picture plenty of adventures,funny incidents , humor with tongue in cheek and fantasy.The film includes as technical advisers, the known astronauts Alan Bean and Miguel Lopez Alegria who was the first Spanish astronaut to go the outer space. The animation movie has some very funny scenes , emotion, entertainment and amusement .Top-notch production ,lavishly and colorfully realized similarly to a Hollywood product.Sensational and fantastic tale with noisy action , surprising situations and results to be big fun.

The motion picture was very well directed by Enrique Gato . Being advisable to see for children and adults who appeal the splendid computer generator animation. Gato is an excellent animation filmmaker. He has directed splendid films , firstly he made short movie in 2004 Tadeo Jones ,and its sequel Tadeo Jones and the basement doom . Later on , he filmed long run film 2012 Adventures Tadeo Jones . And in post production a new sequel 2017 Tadeo Jones and the secret of King Midas Rating: Better than average . Well worth watching.
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10/10
Perfect for Kids!
masoudimehran19 April 2016
This animation is so unfairly under-rated. OK... this movie is for kids but i enjoyed it very much because it brought me back to my childhood! There's no reason to compare this with masterpieces like Toy Story. All the crew did their job perfectly.

  • Characters are decently developed.


  • Facial animations are well done.


  • Visual effects are beautiful.


  • Igor and Marty are funny.


And remember this movie "is a 2015 Spanish computer-animated science fiction adventure comedy film"!
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9/10
A SURPRISING SPANISH-ANIMATED MASTERPIECE, THAT IS NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE NON-DISNEY ANIMATED FILMS
diegoblasio21 February 2018
Capture the flag Is indeed one of the most surprising animated films ever made, with an engaging and heartwarming story, positive and epic representation, well crafted animation, and engaging characters that mostly have certain charm, well, more importantly the worthy main characters, even despite some implied issues of most of the supporting characters aspects (specially the resemblance of mother TERESA and her daughter TESS to some known disney/pixar characters), this film indeed has made me a mind blowing experience when it comes the highlighting goal of capturing and rescuing the flag planted on the moon, offering a lot of heart, action, even including some fun and strong moments. This is absolutely a must watch film, even it worth checking it out by recommending this to the animation fans and probably the moon NASA admirers, I can guarantee this movie deserves much attention like happened in Spain since apparently can be seen as an underrated one in the USA since this film got mostly Spanish positive comments and was apparently mixed in the USA with a limited release there and won the Spanish academy award or Goya for best animated film, indeed this film deserved that award, and there is no denying that this film was much more improved and emotional than Enrique gato's previous film, and this should be probably considered as one of the greatest animated films of all time made originally in Spain (despite that this movie has animated USA elements)

Story 9/10 Animation 9/10 Characters 9/10

Overall: 9/10
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10/10
Very enjoyable family film and good animation
scrazynut6 March 2020
Really enjoyed this family movie, great animation, lovely story line and kids enjoyed it, recommend as a good family film night watch
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9/10
Highly underrated. Great pic
fairdennis9 January 2019
Headline says it all. Very entertaining. Great animation. Fun storyline.
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9/10
Great action packed family movie
mgmeistrell22 January 2019
I would rank this up there as 2nd most underrated kids movie next to Astroboy! Kids ranging from 2 to 10 really enjoyed it. The only reason I'm giving this a 9 instead of a 10 is because they use the word "hell" and "smartass", which wasn't needed or welcomed!
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8/10
Great Film.
ajhmacleod10 July 2022
This is an unexpectedly great film. It has a good story, it's charming, it's well made, the music is brilliant, it's educational as well as entertaining and fun. I can't believe that this film didn't even get nominated for any of the big awards. Yes it won a couple of smaller European awards, I guess it doesn't tick the political correctness boxes and doesn't have any Hollywood names.
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