My Life as a Zucchini

2017 "SOMETIMES WE CRY BECAUSE WE'RE HAPPY."
7.8| 1h6m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 24 February 2017 Released
Producted By: France 3 Cinéma
Country: Switzerland
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.mylifeasazucchini.com/
Synopsis

After his mother’s death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age. There, with the help of his newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love as he searches for a new family of his own.

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Reviews

GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
kimd-38939 I randomly stumbled across this movie while surfing Netflix, and I'm so glad I watched it!First off, the plot is quite simple. It's essentially about a young orphaned boy, Courgette (Zucchini), who finds love and friendship during his time at an orphanage. Having watched many films with complex plots, I found the simplicity of "My Life as a Courgette" to be very refreshing. In terms of the characters, I found all of them to be very believable/realistic. Additionally, I was able to empathize with every character (except for the evil ones, haha). In this regard, I must give a lot of credit to the voice actors as they brought so much life and emotion to these characters!I also want to add that the animation is relatively low-key, which I believe actually enhances the simplistic nature of this film. I must, however, warn you that the animation is a bit choppy. I personally didn't mind this, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Overall, this movie is short and sweet. With a runtime of only 66 minutes, it's great to watch if you're not in the mood for a long movie. Many important themes - such as child abuse and love - are explored, and the movie does a beautiful job following a young boy's journey. I highly recommend you give this movie a try!
gizmomogwai Odd as it may sound, films with vegetables in their titles often turn me off; I heard of My Life as a Courgette (more commonly called a zucchini where I live in Canada) and saw Netflix marked it for ages 8-10, but had some time to kill and it was only 67 minutes on, so gave it a shot. Well, Netflix was a bit off on the 8-10. Adults will find a lot to admire in this little zucchini.Like this year's It by Andy Muschietti (yes, I will make the insane comparison), it is refreshing to see films are still being made where kids still talk like real kids; they're under 18 but they talk about sex (or draw a nude picture as we see here), whereas most modern Puritanical Hollywood movies will treat that as heresy. My Life as a Courgette also confronts the roughest subject matter fearlessly, and manages to pull at the heartstrings in the process. It may seem too easy to do that with a story about orphans, two getting adopted at the end, but it takes something special to make it feel unique- a great deal of maturity and thought went into crafting the emotions and getting them out in a genuine way. (Moonrise Kingdom also ended with adoption-by-cop following an orphan in love- its merits were also strong, though different). The animation goes with stop motion over the now-expected computer 3D, and also develops its own winning charm.
TheLittleSongbird 'My Life as a Courgette' was the last of the five 2016/7 Best Animated Feature Oscar nominees viewed by me, and that it is (to me) the weakest of the nominees and still manages to be a very good film is testament to how great the other four films ('The Red Turtle', 'Kubo', 'Moana' and the winner 'Zootropolis', so very stiff competition) were.There is not a whole lot wrong with 'My Life as a Courgette'. At just over an hour it is a little too short and it did have a story that was deserving of a longer length, and the depiction of orphanages (usually a dark and unhappy environment that people can't wait to leave) is rather rose-tinted. Otherwise, it is a beautifully done film that has much more to it than the quirky if silly title, the cute-looking characters and bright colourful visuals make out. Not classing these attributes as bad things in any way, but it is so easy hearing and seeing it advertised to get the wrong idea about 'My Life as a Courgette', thinking it will be a quirky film with children as its primary target audience, bright colours and witty humour when actually there is much to the film than that.It is a beautifully animated film certainly. It is very vibrantly bright and colourful, with parts of truly haunting atmosphere, a vividly immersive world and meticulously detailed backgrounds and overall visuals from the little things to the bigger effects. Just as good are the eye-catching character designs that are modelled smoothly and even with the oddball looks look and behave very authentically, for characters they are very unique and charmingly unusual (what other title character has blue hair and a red nose?).Furthermore, the music score is appropriately atmospheric and whimsical, while the writing has quirks and poignancy. The story could have benefited from a longer length but still charms, amuses and moves, with a surprisingly sober tone, while not being afraid to take risks and brave more difficult subjects with sensitivity and never heavy-handedness. This is including one of the boldest opening sequences in any animated film (perhaps the boldest since that for Disney's 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'). Everything is paced beautifully too.Characters are very easy to warm to and have engaging, distinct personalities. Voice acting in both the American and particularly French versions is very emotive.On the whole, beautiful film and has much more to it than one would think. 8/10 Bethany Cox
MartinHafer "My Life as a Zucchini" was nominated for Best Animated Feature for the 2017 Academy Awards but lost to "Zootopia". It's a shame, as 2017 offered three very deserving films (I would also include "Kubo") and only one could take home the award. Perhaps my love for "My Life as a Zucchini" is influenced by my work as a social worker and therapist, as the story is a hopeful tale about children who have been shamefully abused by their parents...a common problem I had to deal with on the job.The story begins with a child stuck in the attic of a horrible home while his mother is downstairs getting drunk and violent. When she tries to enter the attic to beat the boy, he panics and slams down the trap door...and the mother falls to her death. Soon the child is being talked to be a very kind police officer, Raymond, and he's surprised to hear that the boy's mother just called him 'Zucchini' and that's the only name he knows. Fortunately for poor little Zucchini, the man is touched by this case and regularly visits him in the children's home where he is sent to live.As for the children's home, seven children reside in the place and they are given kindness and love. It's actually a pretty nice place, but your heart goes out to the children and the hell they've had to go through during their short lives. Most of the story is about Zucchini and how he adjusts to the place as well as his falling for a girl who arrives soon after him, Camille. And, fortunately, the picture, while VERY moving and sad, has a nice happy ending.This is a very, very special stop-motion film. While it's very artistic and well done it is something more...it's very sweet and has a depth to it you really don't expect in animation. The Swiss film is available in both the original French language version and an English dub (which is very good) on the same DVD. Perhaps other versions are also available, but on the DVD I saw these were the two language choices. Well worth seeing...but have a Kleenex or two handy just in case.