Movie directors Juan Galocha and Pedro Solís García must enjoy developing action comedies. After becoming a fan with the Tad the Explorer films, I had to check out their latest, Buffalo Kids. I reviewed the third of that archaeological comedy and can spot the similarity. Instead of getting crazy with the silly antics from a certain comic relief character, this latest is mature. Here, the tale is concerned about a trio of kids attempting to survive the wild west!
Mary (Mia Pérez Ullod and Alisha Weir in the dub) is quite the spunky youth, and I suspect what’s not told is that she and older brother Tom (Jaume Solà / Conor MacNeill) lost their parents. They are the latest Irish immigrants set to arrive in New York, and when their uncle doesn’t show up, the young girl thinks it’s best to go find him! It’s tough to not like this film. The performance by Weir is great! She sells the exuberance needed to make me adore this child. And as for her big brother, Tom, he’s supposed to be the voice of reason. MacNeill does an equally commendable job to say they’re quite natural in these roles.
What keeps the film engaging is how the young girl instantly bonds with Nick, a paraplegic orphan. She doesn’t think of him as disabled and just how he helps during this film is nothing surprising, but speaks volumes about how even they can highlight a film.
Along the way, they encounter bandits led by Wilson (Sean Bean), union soldiers, Indians, and a buffalo! The significance of the latter is very important and instead of spoiling, all I can say is that the moment shows the writing team has done their homework. Some matters of indigenous spirituality are significant, and portray healing accurately is significant.
At the same time, the filmmakers don’t stray far from what defines a good ol’ fashioned cowboy movie. Thankfully, this work doesn’t focus on the gun violence that goes on, but deals with criminal elements differently. The tale here isn’t about searching for lost gold. When the trio get separated from the adults, that’s when the big adventure happens and what’s key here is that the youths are genuine in how they look out for one another.
When Buffalo Kids is compared to past movies made by this Spanish filmmaking team, I feel the content is much more mature. The reason is twofold. One concerns showing how to treat one another with kindness in this dog-eat-dog bygone world, but also is less about the laughs. And when this film is more about finding homes for the many orphans introduced, I couldn’t help but start humming to “Home on the Range” by the time this movie ended.
4 Stars out of 5
Buffalo Kids Movie Trailer
