The second in a series of shorts, Blue & Malone: Impossible Cases (Blue & Malone. Casos Imposibles), follows Berta (Aura Garrido) twenty years later from when she first experienced adventures with her imaginary detective friends as a child. All grown-up and a serious, professional journalist with a video camera in hand, Berta has returned to a dilapidated theater where she used to go with her grandmother.
Unfortunately, it is the eve of the theater’s destruction. As she wanders around the once-grand, dusty auditorium and its stage, she is greeted by remnants of her childhood imagination: Mortando Malone (Alex O’Dogherty) and the Big Blue Cat (José Luis García Pérez). First, however, an “impossible” case needs to be solved. What case could be more important than the memories that lie in the theater? Why Berta’s ability to dream again, of course! With the invention of “deadultizer,” a magical button, which allows an adult to see an imaginary world, Malone and Blue offer Berta an escape from her hectic and deadline-driven life.
“…greeted by remnants of her childhood imagination: Mortando Malone and the Big Blue Cat.”
Written and directed by Abraham López Guerrero, Blue & Malone: Impossible Cases is a visual feast combining real-life footage with 3D and 2D animation. This stunning mishmash of techniques presents a reality that becomes infused with brilliant detail, movement, and color from its leading characters to every prop, accent, contraption, and set décor imaginable. Guerrero has created a universe that knows no end, save for whatever you can conjure up in your mind’s eye. The metaphorical mechanism turned fantastical reality, a self-winding, perpetual motion watch where time is controlled, along with other time-travel contraptions, is captivating and stunning. This, among other repurposed antiquities, presents a warm welcome to Berta’s past and present imagination.
Blue & Malone: Impossible Cases is a very clever and creative short film with excellent sound effects, great pacing, and extraordinary animation. These elements combined make Guerrero’s creative effort a fun ride and an exciting escape; it seamlessly blends the past and present to offer a feeling of familiarity and comfort. Even though there’s a lack of English subtitles (the film is Spanish), this should not deter anyone at any age from undergoing this visually sumptuous flight of fancy.
"…[a] visually sumptuous flight of fancy."
