I Am Frankelda - A Critical Review

Two weeks ago, I unwittingly attended the North American premiere of I Am Frankelda (Yo Soy Frankelda), and it left me feeling some kind of way. I'm not sure that there is a word in the English language to explain the very specific feeling that I Am Frankelda evoked in me, but I do know that I am more than willing to try and encapsulate it in a few hundred words, instead.

With all that out of the way, let's dive into the eerie, fantastical world of I Am Frankelda. At least, after we have taken a quick detour into where everything started in Frankelda's Book of Spooks.

What Is Frankelda's Book of Spooks?

The brainchild and quite possibly greatest passion project of brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz, Frankelda's Book of Spooks is a five-episode stop-motion animated series developed for HBO Max. The series premiered in Latin America in 2021, and introduced audiences to Frankelda, an immensely talented writer from the 19th Century whose spirit is trapped within a sentient haunted house known as Procustes. Along with her grumpy if lovable enchanted book, Herneval, Frankelda tells tales of terror revolving around all manner of mild monstrosities as they gradually build up their strength and plot their ultimate escape, all while doing their best to avoid rousing the house from its slumber.

Over the course of five episodes, Frankelda enchants viewers with stories of devious gnomes, ominous crones, treacherous sea creatures, and other supernatural spirits, or Spooks. With the final episode of Frankelda's Book of Spooks, Frankelda reveals glimpses of her own personal history, beginning with her life as Francisca Imelda and ending with her decision to open up to unimaginable forces in her quest to become the greatest horror author of all time. It is this episode that lays the foundation for I Am Frankelda and, hopefully, many more of such works to come.

I Am Frankelda - Explained

I Am Frankelda, previously released in Latin America as Frankelda y el Príncipe de los Sustos (Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks), dives deep into the life of Francisca Imelda. In her youth, Francisca lives among other children in a monastery, where her interests make her a target for bullying from her peers and a general sense of disenfranchisement from the adults in her life. Things don't get much better when Francisca meets the young Prince of Spooks, who makes his way from the Realm of Fiction with a little malevolent nudging on the part of a conniving Procustes.

As the film explains, there once was a time when the Realm of Fiction, where all imagined beings reside, and the Realm of Existence were deeply intertwined. Eventually, this proved to be unsustainable, and as such the two Realms were separated. That the Prince can cross over would be of grave concern to his parents, yet is of much interest to the scheming, arachnid Procustes, who has been lacking in his role as the Royal Nightmarer. After years of growing accustomed to increasing horrors in the Realm of Existence, humankind is no longer frightened by the Royal Nightmarer's stories, which soon takes a potentially lethal tole on the King of Spooks, not to mention the Realm as a whole.

Upon reaching adulthood, the Prince takes it upon himself to take to the Realm of Existence and bring back the only hope that the Realm of Fiction has left - Francisca Imelda. From there, Procustes begins manipulating Francisca's feelings, dashing her hopes and picking away at her confidence until she is willing to do anything he asks if it means proving herself. Although there are some plot threads that get left unresolved, the vast majority aren't problematic in terms of their impact on the story by the time I Am Frankelda reaches its genuinely surprising conclusion.

As someone who is always looking for new niche genre experiences, it is surprising in and of itself just how surprised I was that I Am Frankelda left off with a relatively familiar ending, and not to its own detriment like so many other productions that have ventured into the same territory. Without giving anything away, this is a very specific ending that genre fans are likely well accustomed to, and that they would likely groan at if it happened in almost any other film. That alone is a glowing testament to the Ambriz Brothers' talent as writers, even if not every story beat in I Am Frankelda feels relevant or properly resolves.

The Puppets of I Am Frankelda

Of course, the writing is only one part of the formula when it comes to I Am Frankelda, and it probably isn't the one that fans are most excited about. Simply put, the puppets in I Am Frankelda are fucking gorgeous. Every single one of them is beautiful in its own way, and more than a dozen of them are downright captivating. The royal family and Procustes in his pre-haunted house form are maybe the most recognizable apart from Frankelda and the Prince, yet they are hardly the most enchanting of the bunch.

In fact, one of my few regrets from attending the North American premiere of I Am Frankelda is that I didn't leave early enough to catch the nearby gallery exhibit of the puppets used in the making of the film. There are so many individually beautiful and awe-striking characters, not to mention so many carefully crafted techniques used in the film that truly impart a sense of wonder upon audiences.

During the Q&A session with the Ambriz Brothers that was held after the film (hence no puppet exhibit for me that day), the filmmakers broke down one specific sequence in which an alligator-like Spook feels the full impact of the Realm's decay, which was done by partially crafting the puppet from gelatin that was torched between frames. There are certainly some moments when the cinematography, lighting, and animation aren't entirely up to par, but moments like the melting alligator Spook prove that the makers of I Am Frankelda genuinely love and understand what they are doing both behind and in front of the camera. That is to say nothing of the mixed-media moments within key sequences of the film, which prove that the Ambriz Brothers are more than willing to push the edge of the medium no matter what response doing so might garner.

I Am Frankelda's Legacy Could Be Bigger Than Anyone Understands

I Am Frankelda is not a perfect movie, but it is an incredibly important one, potentially to a degree that not even its own creators are fully aware of quite yet. In terms of its general significance, I Am Frankelda is a historical achievement in that it is the first Mexican stop-motion feature film. In terms of its overall cultural impact, or that of its overall immediate affect on the wider industry, I Am Frankelda is a fairly minimal affair. That being said, I Am Frankelda will all but assuredly have a massive impact on viewers, not to mention on the careers of those who brought it to life.

I Am Frankelda is a rarity for numerous reasons, possibly the most obvious of which is the fact that it is a film that makes its own tie-in series better and vice versa. There is nothing about I Am Frankelda that makes Frankelda's Book of Spooks any worse, just as there is nothing about Frankelda's Books of Spooks that detracts from the overarching narrative of I Am Frankelda. Both play perfectly into one another, which maybe isn't all that shocking considering the Ambriz Brothers are the personal protégés of none other than the legendary Guillermo del Toro himself.

To everyone reading this, I cannot recommend I Am Frankelda enough. I personally went into it with only the vaguest idea of Frankelda's Book of Spooks, and I'm not sure if seeing the series before or after the movie is the right way to go. I know that I was completely blown away by the film, and that it garnered the loudest round of applause that I have heard in a theater since Chris Evans picked up Mjolnir during a midnight showing of Avengers: Endgame. That being said, I would definitely not recommend anyone introduce young children to the film, not necessarily because they will be traumatized by anything on screen, but because I Am Frankelda is heady with a capital "H." This is not "Mexican The Nightmare Before Christmas," nor is it even Frankelda's Book of Spooks. This isn't to say that younger viewers won't find something to enjoy in I Am Frankelda, but they probably aren't going to understand some of the more basic story elements, let alone the more nuanced aspects of its narrative.

All things considered, I Am Frankelda is a cinematic masterpiece, albeit an occasionally messy one. With any luck, it will also be what catapults the Ambriz Brothers' into the kind of stardom they deserve, and what ensures they receive the kind of capital that their next beautiful, mind-bending tale requires.

John Dodge can be found writing about comics, movies, and all things pop culture over at CBR. He can also be found on social media here and here, also here, and probably a few other places if you have the gumption to find them.