It’s a shame that they just recently shut down. Man, Tangent Animation went all out to show that they mean business. This is Mesoamerican Middle Earth and I just want to live there. When it comes to the action set pieces and sequences, not even the word “epic” can do it justice. Even the lighting is cinematic with such a –– and I’m sorry to keep going back to this –– Pixar quality. Every location breathes a unique flair in color and design and makes this entire world feel as epic as movies of similar magnitude. The kingdom of Teca bustles with Aztec-inspired life in architecture and scale, Luna Island has majestic artistry in color, and the Underworld is a fiery hellscape. It makes every location element of this animated Mesoamerican world feel so alive. It has the same attributes as Pixar’s Luca where their characters are stylized by design but are given realistic textures, and boy is it beautiful.Īs you follow Maya across different realms, assembling a ragtag team of misfits to help her and her kingdom, you become smitten by the background artistry.
The wild designs he and his wife Sandra Equihua conjure up for the ensemble of characters, from the human realm to the Underworld, are given life-like skin texture details. Characters straight-up pop out of the aspect ratio bars through numerous action sequences. The animation services, done by the studio Tangent Animation, are high-class perfection, for they reach that Pixar tier and bring this world to life with state-of-the-art realism and detail. Netflix Animation pulled out the big guns to give Gutiérrez and his team free rein with his scope. This is the most stunning CG animation I’ve seen this year in terms of quality and style. Now, Jorge Gutiérrez, who always attaches a love letter to his home country in his works, does his darndest to give Mesoamerica that big mainstream push by applying the skeleton of an epic ala Lord of the Rings but making it as personalized as ever.įrom an animation standpoint, Maya and the Three shows how Gutiérrez’s art style translated to 3D is a visual feast for the mind, body, and soul.
It’s expanded very recently with the fun Cartoon Network series Victor and Valentino and the adult Crunchyroll original show Onyx Equinox. Meanwhile, as far as Mesoamerican culture goes, you had Apocalypto and the year 2012. Whether it be television, gaming, or film, action-adventure epics based on Greek or Roman (or whatever European culture that has Gods) mythology get all the rave.