Fluff: Dare To Fly – PLOEY – You Never Fly Alone (2018)

Directed by: Árni sgeirsson | 80 minutes | animation, adventure | Dutch voice cast: Manou Jue Cardoso, Teddy Ortanca, Tygo Gernandt, Klaas van Kruistum, Martijn Fischer, Kristel Verbeke

In Iceland they love the golden plover. The migratory bird is seen as the bringer of spring. So it’s no surprise that director Árni Ásgeirsson and screenwriter Fridrik Erlingsson – known for the very first Icelandic CG animation film ‘Thor: The Legend of Valhalla’ from 2011 – chose precisely this little creature as the protagonist in their new animation film. The diversity of flora and fauna in Iceland is limited; the capricious landscape and climate – and related to the limited food supply – means that few animal species can thrive. Ásgeirsson and Erlingsson had those few animals that do live there all show up in ‘Pluisje: Darf tevlieg’ (2018). That nature can be rock hard is immediately clear in the opening minutes. The swarm of plovers arrives after a winter stay in warmer climes, but must immediately be on his guard because the dangerous gyrfalcon Shadow smells his chance for a tasty snack. And we immediately see that Icelanders are not sensitive to tar: because the bird of prey actually catches a bird. If your child gets upset quickly, then ‘Pluisje’ may not be so suitable.

Once on land, the birds make nests and lay eggs. Fluffy is born from one of those eggs. He grows up as a cheerful little bird, who has the greatest fun together with his best friend Ploveria. But then it is time for the real work: the little birds receive flying lessons. Fluff hesitates; actually he doesn’t dare. Even though Ploveria says it’s not difficult. If he does jump, Shadow flies at him. Fluffy is rescued, but unfortunately his father does not survive the battle. Not only does Fluffy feel very guilty, he doesn’t dare to fly anymore! But if he wants to go south with his mother and Ploveria to escape the cold Icelandic winter, he’ll have to. When Fluffy starts practicing again, he is caught by a cat from the nearby village. The plovers think he did not survive that attack and leave. Pluisje has no choice but to survive the bitter cold alone. To do that, he must search for Paradise Valley, a hidden place where resident birds and other stay-at-homes go. But the road there is not without danger. Fortunately, the brave little bird makes new friends along the way to help him on his journey.

Among those new friends are quite a few lanky misfits; a huge ptarmigan called Giron and a silly Arctic tern. Figures with a high level of irritation. The characters aren’t the strongest point of ‘Pluisje’ anyway; in fact, the bad guy, Shadow, is the most interesting character yet. Fluff is sweet, but also a bit dull and colorless. With a view to the young audience for which this film was made, ‘Pluisje’ has a fairly realistic sketch of the often hard-fought struggle for life and death in nature. The question is whether sensitive children’s souls can handle that (although of course the necessary beloved characters have died in many Disney films). On the other hand, with this realistic approach, the film has a certain educational value. The story itself is mainly functional. The great strength of this film is the setting in mysterious Iceland, in all its unforgiving and inhospitable beauty. It took a lot of time to make this film, something that we mainly see in the elaboration of the natural beauty and in the details (the textures in the fur or wings of the animals, for example). The figures themselves therefore look better in close-up than in a wide shot.

‘Pluisje: Dare to fly’ is an animated film that tells straight-up about how things work in nature. Where things usually end well in the average children’s film, that is not so obvious here. The story is not too original, but there is an educational message for the young viewers. For the adults who look over the shoulder of their offspring, ‘Pluisje’ has nothing extra to offer, because humor is barely present and the few jokes that do come along are just as straightforward as the rest of the film. So you have no choice but to marvel at that fantastically rugged Icelandic landscape. Because this film is an absolute advertisement for the Northern European island.