Michael's Movie Grade: B An irresistibly charming family movie from Brazil. The greatest appeal of this movie is our main character. In lesser hands this character could have easily come off as cloying. However this movie does not leave this character in lesser hands. This character is not only adorable, but is naturally and effortlessly so. Much of this is due to a script that truly make her incredible likable. Still the main ingredient in pulling this character off is an excellent performance by Maisa Silva. This performance completely captures of the child like joy of this character. Though comedy ideas like her not knowing what an escalator or an elevator are, have been used in plenty of movies, seeing it through the eyes of this character makes them work. The humor in these scenes does not come from her naiveté but from her joy at discovering a whole new world. Instead of laugh at her (like many other movies would have us do), we simply enjoy seeing this lovable character on her first real adventure. Just as charming as the character herself is her relationships with her two possible fathers (the story involves her not knowing who her dad is but believing it must be one of two men). These relationships feel completely fleshed out and you perfectly believe in how these two men grow to love her so fast. You truly grow to hope each perspective "dad" is her real father when you see them with her. Her own romance is also quite charming and believable. To be fair this movie does have its faults. Certain plot points do feel rather forced and most of the time you know completely where this film is going. If you want to see this charming movie, it premiered on Netflix just a few days ago. -Michael J. Ruhland
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