Ainbo: Heroine of the Amazon – AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon (2021)

Directed by: Richard Claus, Jose Zelada | 84 minutes | animation, family | Dutch voice cast: Tara Hetharia, Leo Richardson, Nordin de Moor, Tess van de Hoef, Paula Majoor

The Amazon region in South America is not only a wonderful paradise full of hidden treasures in terms of flora and fauna; the (natural) peoples who live there also carry hundreds of special habits, customs and stories with them. Unfortunately, the Amazon and everything and everyone that lives in it is under serious threat from deforestation, degradation of its fragile ecosystems and human rights violations. All eyes are on the current Brazilian president Bolsonaro, but he seems to want to earn a lot of money from the nature in his country than to protect the Amazon. The inexperienced Peruvian filmmaker Jose Zelada thought it was high time to show the youth the threat deforestation poses to the Amazon region – and with it the world – and dived in with the Dutch-based German film-maker Richard Claus, an old hand in the field who has already earned his spurs, especially as a producer – entered the studio for an animation film on this theme.

The result is ‘Ainbo: Heroine of the Amazon’ (2021), marketed by the filmmakers themselves with the slogan ‘Vaiana meets Brave’, which immediately and unmistakably shows that Zelada and Claus were inspired by the Disney catalog. The heroine of the story is Ainbo from the village of Candamo in the depths of the Amazon, an orphaned girl who dreams of becoming the best archer of her tribe. Her best friend Zumi has a different fate. With a mysterious, malevolent force gripping the village, her chieftain father has fallen ill and is forced to hand over his duties to her. When Ainbo discovers that it is the ancient evil spirit Yacuruna who keeps Candamo in his mind, she decides to search for Motelo Mama, the mighty giant tortoise who is the patroness of the area. Like a true warrior, she defies all dangers to save her village, aided by two self-proclaimed ‘nature guides’, the chatty and smart armadillo Dillo and the slightly less savvy tapir Vaca who have to provide the comic relief.

Richard Claus previously made the animation film ‘De kleine vampire’ (2017) and, like that film, ‘Ainbo: Heroine of the Amazon’ also excels in mediocrity. The film scores a satisfactory score in all respects (although it is sometimes a tight six), but ‘Ainbo’ never rises above the ground level. The story has a beautiful, important message, but is presented in a rather messy way. Because is the evil force behind the events in Candamo well the evil nature spirit Yacuruna or the (white) humanity, personified by the Dutch (!) gold prospector Cornell DeWitt (voiced by none other than Thom in both the Dutch and English versions? Hoffman) who smashes the woods to find a mine where a fortune would be waiting for him? If it is already complicated for adult viewers, how can the young target group (6+) ever understand what the fork is? The fact that no less than five different writers have worked on the story, including Zelada and Claus himself, will not have contributed to the clarity.

In terms of animation, the film deserves more than satisfactory, especially when it comes to the lush nature that is vividly and colorfully designed here. The human and animal figures are sketched in a more variable manner and in some cases look wooden or generic, without a personality of their own. Most out of the ordinary is DeWitt, who looks very unnatural in his appearance and movements. As if the makers believed that the bad guy didn’t deserve careful elaboration. The figures that do meet, are very showy inspired by Disney colleagues. This applies not only to heroine Ainbo herself, who is strongly reminiscent of Moana, but also to her sidekicks Dillo and Vaca who are almost literally copies of the illustrious duo Timon and Pumbaa from ‘The Lion King’ (1994), but less well. success.

So there is quite a bit to criticize about ‘Ainbo: Heroine of the Amazon’. Does that automatically mean that this movie is not good? Not directly. Because despite all the snags, this animated film that lasts less than an hour and a half easily looks away, we empathize with the title heroine and some scenes – especially those in which the dark Yacuruna plays a role – are quite exciting. Moreover, it is clear that the makers made their film with the best intentions. It’s just a pity that after the show very little stays with you, because ‘Ainbo’ will be forgotten in no time after watching it.