The Stone Boy (La Increíble Historia del Niño de Piedra): Movie Review

If we could judge "The Stone Boy" (also known as "The Incredible Story of Stone Boy" or "La Increíble Historia del Niño de Piedra") with visuals alone, it would be a home run hit. But problems with its plot, screenplay, and English voiceover quality makes sure that only a very limited audience, the younger kind to be exact, would find "The Stone Boy" enjoyable.

When the fair arrives in town, Marina and her cousins Tito, Tato and Tete decide to go and have some fun. But the fair turns out to be a dud. Before leaving, they are invited by a strange man to watch his miniature flea circus. When the show is over, the man reveals that he has in his possession a boy made of stone - cursed when he got angry with his life. Marina and her cousins decide that they must do something to help the Stone Boy and decide to embark on a journey to the Country of Senses.

It's pretty clear from the get-go that "The Stone Boy" was probably made by a very small team and produced on an extremely low budget. We would hate to bring the full brunt of our criticism given this fact but it would also be unfair to not point out its most grievous mistakes. Most of these we feel are rooted in the fact that this was originally from a Spanish-speaking country and huge chunks of the film might have been lost in translation. First of all, the film's English voiceover was consistently inconsistent. The quality, let's just say, isn't the best with questionable decisions on who portrayed who. The most glaring example would be Marina as she transitions from a young kid's voice as her speaking voice to an adult one whenever she sings. It's both amusing and frustrating at the same time. On top of that, the screenplay and story were all over the place with most of it feeling like complete nonsense even for a children's film. Unsurprisingly, character development is almost non-existent with the film turning our to be very simplistic and too straightforward on this regard. The only great aspect of the film is its colorful visuals. The animation and drawings aren't the best (close to how Flash animations are) but they do the job particularly well. Overall, don't be discouraged even with "The Stone Boy's" faults. Looking at this through the eyes of an adult, it's was a lackluster experience. But here's the kicker, we are pretty sure that younger audiences would find this a very entertaining watch at least.

Rating: 2 reels





Why you should watch it:
- younger audiences won't mind its faults
- the vibrant and colorful palette stand out

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the screenplay, plot, and voiceover was cringe-worthy material
- seemingly much of its appeal was lost in translation

If you're interested in streaming "The Stone Boy" for your kid's enjoyment, you can rent or purchase directly from Amazon Video.