CAPTURE THE FLAG [2015 / 2016] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
An Out-Of-This-World Space Adventure For The Whole Family!
Space travel runs in Mike Goldwing’s family: both his Father and Grandfather were astronauts. When the brave and determined 12-year-old boy Mike Goldwing [Carme Calvell] discovers that an eccentric billionaire Richard Carson [Dani Rovira] plans to fly to the moon, and steal its vast mineral wealth, which is valuable natural resources, and destroy the American flag planted by the Apollo XI astronauts during man’s historic moon landing, and the countdown to a spectacular adventure begins! Mike Goldwing, teamed with his Grandfather Frank Goldwing [Camilo García], best friend Amy González [Michelle Jenner] and a clever chameleon Igor [Oriol Tarragó] blasts off on an incredible moon-bound mission, determined to thwart the billionaire Richard Carson’s evil plan, capture the flag, and in doing so reunites his family.
FILM FACT: The animated film won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film at the 2016 Goya Awards. 2016 Platino award for Best Animated Feature Film. 2016 Gaudí award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Voice Cast: Dani Rovira (Richard Carson), Michelle Jenner (Amy González), Carme Calvell (Mike Goldwing), Javier Balas (Marty Farr), Camilo García (Frank Goldwing), Toni Mora (Scott Goldwing), Marta Barbará (Samantha Goldwing), Fernando García Cabrera (Steve Gigs), Xavier Casan (Bill Gags), Oriol Tarragó (Igor), Ramon Canals (Jack Farr), Jordi Royo (Jay Lemmon), Margarita Cavero (Tess), Alba Sola (President), Juan Miguel Valdivieso (Patrullero 1), Santi Lorenz (Patrullero 2), Carlos Sianes (José /Analista), Cesc Martínez (Ray /Fotógrafo), José Carlos Garcia (Militar /Ace Gordete), Xavier Martín (Gordo bar), Joaquín Gómez (Anciano volador), Santiago Cortés (Anciano gafas), Paco Valls (Astronauta viejo), José Antonio Jimenez (Analist 2), Pedro J. Martos (Analist 3), José Ignacio Latorre (NASA Photographer), Laura Monedero (Blondie) and Margarita Ponce (Mujer limpieza)
Director: Enrique Gato
Producers: Álvaro Augustín, Axel Kuschevatzky, César Vargas, Edmon Roch, Ghislain Barrois, Ignacio Fernández-Veiga Feijóo, Ignacio Salazar-Simpson, Gabriel Arias-Salgado, Javier Ugarte, Jordi Gasull, Jorge Tuca, Manuel Echánove, Marc Sabé, Nicolás Matji, Ricardo Marco Budé and Victoria Borrás
Screenplay: Javier López Barreira, Jordi Gasull, Neil Landau and Patxi Amézcua
Composer: Diego Navarro
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: German: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
English: 7.1 Dolby TrueHD [Dolby Atmos]
English: 2.0 Audio Descriptive
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
Dutch: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
Turkish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround
Spanish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Please Note: This audio presentation is mixed specifically for Dolby Atmos® which enables your AV Receiver and speaker configuration to produce full multidimensional sound without channel restrictions in the Home Cinema set-up, and even overhead. Dolby Atmos® is compatible with current generation Blu-ray players. Also select this option for other speaker configurations. For Dolby Atmos® playback set your Blu-ray player to Bitstream Out and disables secondary audio. For more information, visit www.dolby.com.
Subtitles: Arabic, Bahas Malaysia, Chinese Cantonese [Hong Kong], Czech, German, English, French, Korean, Chinese Mandarin [Traditional], Dutch, Polish, Chinese Mandarin [Simplifies], Slovakian, Turkish and English SDH
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Paramount Pictures / Universal Pictures UK
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ [2015] is a lovely heart-warming joyous adventurous animated film that I know you will enjoy immensely the wild ride provided by a Spanish-produced animated feature release here on this Blu-ray Disc through Universal Pictures UK. While grown-ups will no doubt be very amused by some of the inside jokes and historical illusions abound and dotted throughout the animated film. Indeed, it’s quite possible that two or three generations of extended families will be entertained during group home-screen viewings of the exciting antics of the three intrepid explorers. Parents and grandparents shouldn’t be surprised if, afterward, youngsters are sufficiently curious to Google info about the real-life Apollo moon missions that the animated film playfully gives lots of references.
Twelve-year-old Mike Goldwing [Carme Calvell] comes from a long line of aspiring astronauts, none of whom have yet made it into space. His grandfather was dropped from the Apollo mission at the last minute and now nurses a meteor-sized chip on his shoulder. His father is a NASA hotshot, but a foot injury sees him grounded just when it looks as if the U.S. is about to revisit the moon. So it’s up to Mike Goldwing to break the family curse, and in doing so stop a despotic energy billionaire from becoming the most powerful man in the universe. Using his kite-surfing skills and his friend’s pet chameleon Igor, which in turn has less of a coherent plot, more of a random assortment of unrelated incidents, which makes this Spanish animated film much more interesting.
The crack pot lunatic conspiracy theorists who have long insisted the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was a fake and may be unsettled to see that, in the world according to ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ the only villains and boring misogynous dinosaur idiots subscribe to this notion. Chief among them is Dani Rovira [Richard Carson], a flamboyant Texas oil tycoon and star of his own self-sponsored TV show who reveals “proof” of the fraud and here we witness an archival video of the fake landing directed by a Stanley Kubrick lookalike, while announcing plans for his own private mission to the moon.
Suitably outraged, is a female U.S. President (a woman not entirely dissimilar to Hillary Clinton) jump-starts a stalled NASA and astronaut-in-training with Scott Goldwing [Toni Mora] who has his long-cherished dreams fulfilled when he is chosen to lead a team charged with flying to the moon and proving the U.S. flag was famously planted by the Apollo 11 crew that still stands in the “Sea of Tranquillity.” It’s a good-news, come bad-news situation for Scott Goldwing, since he has to train under his long-estranged father, Frank Goldwing [Camilo García], a former Apollo astronaut who missed his own chance for a moon mission decades earlier. Even so, the announcement is a delight for Mike Goldwing, Scott Goldwing’s 12-year-old son, who knows how much the mission means to his dad and wishes for reconciliation between his father and grandfather.
One thing leads to another, in a manner as contrived as most activity in similarly child-centric cartoon feature and the new U.S. spacecraft, powered by a vintage Saturn V rocket, takes off for the moon with three unscheduled passengers at the controls: Mike Goldwing, Frank Goldwing, and Amy González [Michelle Jenner], Mike Goldwing’s feisty young surfing buddy. Meanwhile, back at Mission Control, another buddy, rotund tech-geek Marty Farr [Javier Balas], tries to help the adults monitoring the mission, even as he fears for the safety of his brilliant pet chameleon Igor [Oriol Tarragó], who is also a spacecraft stowaway.
There’s more than a hint of “Apollo 13” both the real-life mission and Ron Howard’s stirring film to the genuinely suspenseful scenes in which Mike Goldwing, Frank Goldwing, and Amy González deal with in-flight problems triggered by the sabotage of Richard Carson, who’s moon-bound in his own vehicle. The rivalry escalates predictably once the opposing teams reach their destination, with chases, races and fiery explosions across a lunar surface that proves quite fertile for the blooming of plot points planted earlier in the film. But director Enrique Gato, working from a serviceable screenplay credited to Javier López Barreira, Jordi Gasull, Neil Landau and Patxi Amézcua, skilfully generates the characters and where you are rooting with interest in the lead animated characters while sustaining a satisfyingly brisk tempo throughout the exciting space adventure.
In terms of virtuoso animation and lavish production values, but respectable but slightly relatively retro ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ and slightly falls short of the gold standard set by PIXAR, DreamWorks and other Hollywood animation outfits, but I still liked it immensely and enjoyed this wonderful animated film very much, especially near the end with a very emotional greeting between the father and the grandfather. But little will matter youngsters and more towards adults, who will get caught up in the storyline which, really, is no more frenetic or sentimental than many heavily hyped animated mega-productions. And while the children laugh, their parents and grandparents will chuckle at a few adult-centric sight gags. In addition to the Stanley Kubrick doppelganger, the supporting players include two Richard Carson’s henchmen who are dead ringers for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
But wait; there is more, anyone old enough to remember the original moon landings will feel a twinge of nostalgia each time ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ cuts to the activity in the recommissioned Mission Control Center. Some credit for this animated film doubtless should go to two of the animation film’s technical advisors: NASA astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria and Apollo XII moonwalker Alan Bean.
And yet despite this adult focus, ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ still finds a way to hone in on the young children that normally make up the audience of an animated film through its child protagonists who tag along on the modern moon mission along with the aging astronaut who was once a member of the Apollo team for NASA. There is even an anthropomorphic chameleon lizard, which seems to be a requirement for even these types of animated feature films that have primarily human casts; after all, even PIXAR’s masterpiece ‘UP’ still made a place for a brilliant talking dogs.
Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures UK is proud to present this beautiful 2D Blu-ray disc of this delightful Spanish-produced animated feature film that was originally released in Europe in 3D. Not only do you have a stunning clear Technicolor 1080p image transfer that beautifully retains the film’s original 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The transfer and overall animation film of ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ was a totally pleasant and exciting experience, with lots of action to keep you interested throughout the animated film. Animated films usually benefit from the 3D format and this animated film sadly was only available in the UK in 2D, but the Spanish Blu-ray is in 3D, but sadly there is no English audio presentation. Featuring some amazing layering throughout and some pop out effects which adds to the animated film, the 2D Blu-ray I can definitely boast of some impressive depth, especially with some particular highlights including the start of the film where they are windsurfing and trying to capture the flag that is brilliant action packed sequences and also the very funny flying windsurfing through and over the Florida alligators scenes in the everglades, and experiencing the dynamic action trying to get the Saturn V rocket as well as seeing them fly through the air and crashing into objects, would of benefited being viewed in 3D. Also you get some really exciting action packed adventure scenes on the moon that features some superb depth and dimension. It has extensively bright bold colours throughout the animated film, and the 1080p transfer highlights some of the hard work that has gone into animating ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG,’ and all the precise detail of the Mission Control Center as an added bonus. Small details like the texture on the walls, blades of grass around the everglades and especially the clothing all exhibit some fine detail that can be observed up close and is very impressive. Also with the other impressive observation, was the lighting and other scenes that were rich with natural sunlight which again adds to the overall effect of this animation film, and especially the dramatic dark scenes on the moon was a particular highlight that was very impressive and exciting to watch.
Blu-ray Video Quality – Universal Pictures UK is proud to present this beautiful 2D Blu-ray disc of this delightful Spanish-produced animated feature film with this beautiful Blu-ray disc with several different audio tracks which consist of German: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, English: 7.1 Dolby TrueHD [Dolby Atmos®], English: 2.0 Audio Descriptive, French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, Dutch: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, Turkish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround and Spanish: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo. Viewing the film in 2D, especially with the 7.1 Dolby TrueHD [Dolby Atmos®] Audio mix, and the sonic ambience matches the quality of the video transfer and results are totally superb. Featuring a very playful surround mix that takes advantage of the whole soundstage, the rear and front sound effects are very discrete and full of detail with a good example being the detail and aggressiveness of the clashing of swords. The surround speakers are full of activity that creates an active and exciting soundstage throughout. Front speakers are used to full effect as well as with some good examples with things being fired and using the full speaker setup to pan around the room. The surround mix is used to good effect as well and gives some more impact to the animation films more action orientated scenes, which I could not fault the brilliant audio mix and the English dialogue is also superb and clear.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Making of ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [15:38] Here we get to view a special Spanish documentary on the making of the animated film entitled Cómo se hizo . . . ATRAPA LA BANDERA, which has English subtitles, which sometimes is positioned very badly over the faces of the people being interviewed, but despite this, we get some nice interviews. We also get a nice trip round Cape Canaveral in Florida in different parts of the vast facility, especially with astronaut Michael López Alegría, who gives a very special tour for director Enrique Gato round the building where they built the Saturn V rocket, which is a totally vast awesome building. Another interesting part of Cape Canaveral we get to visit is the main Launch Control Center, where all the technical people sat and worked on all the technical aspect of the moon landing. One nice diversion is that we get to meet astronaut Alan LaVern Bean, who was an American former naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut; who was the fourth person to walk on the Moon, but while the director Enrique Gato shows Alan LaVern Bean clips from the animated film, you notice that Alan is a very talented artist and does some wonderful full size oil paintings of previous astronauts. So all in all this is quite a nice little documentary, but with the majority speaking in Spanish, some people might find it slightly hard going and especially the way they inappropriately positioned some of the subtitles over people’s faces, which slightly annoyed me and I feel this is not very professionally done. Contributors include: Enrique Gato [Director]; Edmon Roch [Producer], Jordi Gasull [Screenwriter]; Nicolás Matji [Producer]; Álvaro Augustín [Producer]; Ghislain Barrois [Producer]; Gabriel Arias-Salgado [Executive Producer]; Javier López Barreira [Screenwriter] and Dani Rovira [Spanish Richard Carson].
Special Feature: Beyond ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [26:36] This is an extension and follow up of the above Spanish making of documentary of the animated film, where we are informed that to make ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ it was worked on a titanic scale of documentation regarding the moon landing and all the technical data that went with it. The crew of the animated film went back to NASA on many occasions to get more information that they might have missed on their first trip to NASA and this documentary takes us on a longer look round the NASA facility and this is the story there journey, but unfortunately you will see some of the same filmed scenes you saw in the previous documentary, which I could not understand, surely they should of shown extended scenes not viewed in the previous documentary? Here once again we see Jordi Gasull [Producer/Screenwriter], as well as we get to see some old film footage of the Saturn V launch to the moon. Once again we get to meet again astronaut Michael López Alegría, who gives a very special tour for director Enrique Gato round the building where they built the Saturn V rocket, which is the same scenes we have seen in the previous documentary, but in this particular documentary we do get to see extra extensive views round this massive space facility which they were given special permission to also be able to film this documentary as they walk around NASA Space Center and her we see both of them able to walk on the same platform that the astronauts that entered the Saturn V rocket and their capsule, at the same time we get to view some of the old film footage of the actual Saturn V rocket launch to the moon. Then once again we get to view the same scenes as in the previous documentary of director Enrique Gato meeting astronaut Michael López Alegría, who gives a very special tour of more areas of Cape Canaveral, especially the building where they built the Saturn V rocket, which is totally awesome, but despite repeating the same scenes again, we do eventually get to see extra footage of exploring more areas of Cape Canaveral and we are informed that they are constructing new cranes for new missions in sometime in either 2017 or 2018. Then we enter the NASA Launch Control Center where we see the vast room where all of the 200 to 250 technical people sat at their monitor’s controlling all the technical data relating to the Saturn V trip to the moon. We then take a trip to the massive rocket launch pad and when you reach the top of this facility, you get a massive panoramic view of the Florida everglades, which suddenly you get a fish eye view of the fierce alligators in action, like you view in the animation film. Then we move onto the Johnson Space Center in Houston for more extensive views of this facility, and especially the vast Neutral Buoyance Laboratory that holds a total of twenty five million litres of water, where they train the astronauts and here we get a glimpse of an exact replica of the International Space Station. We also get to see a longer intimate interview with the director Enrique Gato talking to Alan LaVern Bean and finding out what it was like to be inside their capsule in the Saturn V rocket as it blasted off to the moon and again we see once again all the fantastic oil paintings personally done by Alan of past astronauts. After that personal interview finishes, we now come to the end of this special documentary, where we get sitting in front of the camera like at the start of this documentary director Enrique Gato and telling us, “Now you’ve seen the development work for the animated film. Everything was an experience. All this effort was for you the audience to experience a great time at the cinema watching films. Enjoy it!
Finally, ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ [2015] is the type of animated film that seems as if it is designed for adults and yet is also aimed at a very family-friendly stance because of its form rather than because of the actual function of the story. The film has characters parodying computer titans like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and its story of the United States commissioning another trip to the moon in order to get the flag left there by Neil Armstrong in 1969 recalls Clint Eastwood’s geriatric adventure ‘Space Cowboys.’ ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ may not have a storyline that seems to appeal to children, but its tone and humour are geared directly toward adolescents even if some of its references are not. As family entertainment, it is perfectly serviceable, even if it does not reach the high standard that PIXAR has set for animated films, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and the trouble is people get too deep and uptight with their psychological clap trap and especially with some stupid comments from Parents on the Amazon web sites for ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ who stated there was too much swearing, well they must have been watching a different animated film, as I heard no swearing at all and these people should get a life and not be such pompous ignorant idiots, because it is only an animation film, and not some kind of thought provoking and deep thinking ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ film. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
