Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is here after one of my most extensive animated movie adventures I had ever done, which is to head to Annecy for the annual Annecy Film Festival! As this is a special Rundown focusing on the Annecy Festival movies themselves, the format is going to be slightly different: Instead of release dates, I will highlight when I covered that movie while at Annecy; additionally, since not all trailers of the movies I covered are available online, I will not be showing the trailers of these movies to give them a fair chance.
The first movie, Yugly, centres on a very ugly dog entering a dog show despite his ugliness, with the help of a few stray dogs cheering an supporting him on. It is honestly insane that I am covering not one, but two animated movies by nWave Studios, a studio that needs no introduction for those that read my review of Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog early this year. What is different, however, is that I am seeing it on Annecy with not just the directors in presence, but also CEO Matthieu Zeller, who co-build this studio from the late 1990s. I know I don’t have as high of expectations as the Chickenhare sequel, but will Yugly once again reminded me why I love this studio in the first place?
The second movie, Lucy Lost, is about a young girl raised by fishermen who chances an encounter with a mysterious girl of her age who might help her piece back her past and her life story. French animation giant Xilam Animation has often been known for producing decent quality children-centric cartoons such as Zig and Sharko as well as Oggy and the Cockroaches, but they are taking a different approach producing exciting animated movies that go beyond their speciality, such as I Lost My Body back in 2019. With Lucy Lost, how will Xilam fare this time?
The third movie, Dudley and the Invasion of the Space Slugs, is about a frog who discovered there may be creatures from outer space that could throw his world into chaos. While Annecy has showcase top-tier animated movies from across the world, they also bring in some fun family entertainment, most of which ended up in the non-competition Annecy Presents category, and this is one of those movies. I was not planning to see it, especially considering my plan to move away from covering way too many family-friendly foreign CG animated movies. Well, how would this movie fare?
The fourth movie, The Violinist, is an animated movie taking place in 1930s Singapore about two childhood friends and budding violinists who were forced to separate due to the incoming Japanese forces, resulting in Fei (Tan Kheng Hua) on a quest to find where her friend Kai (Adrian Pang) is after the war. To say that I am so excited to cover this movie would be an understatement, as if you saw my 12 into 2026 article, this movie is extra special as a movie originating in my home country of Singapore. Now that I got to see the world premiere of it at Annecy, will this movie deliver?
The fifth movie, In Waves, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by AJ Dungo chronicling his romance with Kristen through surfing in Los Angeles, until Kristen’s illness force them to brave on the illness together despite its seriousness. I was fortunate to see the original graphic novel prior to its Annecy release, and to say I was excited about it is an understatement. Will this movie deliver on my highest expectations?
The sixth and final movie, Brave Cat, centres on a teenage cat on a quest to find her missing mother after being kidnapped by authoritarian forces. Brave Cat is an animated movie that is well needed, considering how barren of a wasteland the Latin American animation scene is. We already got one great Latin American animated movie this year with I Am Frankelda, but will Brave Cat be another Latin American animated hit, especially from the director and studio behind the Oscar winning short Bear Story?
Well, it is time to begin the craziest animated movie adventure yet. On y va!
Yugly
Key Information
- Directors: Yanis Belaid and Jeremie Degruson
- Animation Studio: nWave Studios
- Country of Origin: France and Belgium
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 21 June 2026 (At Bonlieu)
The Review
I have to admit, I was not expecting much from this movie, especially given I covered the Chickenhare sequel early this year, but I will admit, Yugly did end up becoming quite promising indeed.
Honestly, while Yugly is not in the same league as Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog earlier this year, there is no denying that it is its own thing, with a rather bizarre and fun story that hits its stride when it takes the time to provide an emotional gut punch, not to mention subverting typical animated movie tropes and having a cast of rather strange but fun characters that add to the story. Since it only has an Annecy release, I won’t go further into the story and the characters, but let’s just say this was nWave going back to its roots, but elevating it for 2026 standards in an admirable manner.
Additionally, the animation is great. Again, not in the same league as the Chickenhare movies and The Inseparables, but it is very solid, in a similar tier to The House of Magic and The Son of Bigfoot, but slightly better. Certain animation sequences do look great, but considering this was shown from the high-quality Bonlieu screen where I saw the world premiere of Yugly, your mileage may vary. With that said, the character and background designs are equally quirky which complements the rather kooky story, the movements and rendering are as great and overall the quality is well above most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies.
Belgian band Puggy once again lend their services to compose the soundtrack just like a lot of nWave’s previous movies, and since I am already used to their style and I briefly talked about the score in the Chickenhare sequel, I won’t go further about the score, except for the fact that this is another solid score from Puggy. Additionally, the marketing from its Annecy appearance is actually fun, since the nWave crew were pasting posters all across Annecy trying to find Yugly himself, with even tearable tabs to boot. In fact, I bumped into them, including CEO Matthieu Zeller, while they were pasting one of those posters near the Bonlieu site where I saw the movie.
As for my level of enjoyment, while not as impressive as the Chickenhare sequel, I still had a ton of fun covering their latest movie on the big screen, and given the last time I saw an nWave movie in theatres was for Bigfoot Family back in 2020, seeing this movie in the presence of the nWave crew was a surreal experience I will never forget, even months after the festival has passed.
Overall, Yugly is just nWave Studios in its own element and shows why they still remain as one of the very few family-friendly foreign CG animation studios that constantly produce good quality entertainment, which is not something you see from most animation studios that specialise in that. It goes to show you can find great quality family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that are not like most low-quality ones, if you know where to look.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Lucy Lost
Key Information
- Director: Oliver Clert
- Animation Studio: Xilam Animation
- Country of Origin: France
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 22 June 2026 (at Pathe Annecy)
The Review
I an gonna make a hot take after I saw Lucy Lost, and it is this: I prefer this over I Lost My Body, Xilam’s previous movie, and no, I am very serious about it.
In terms of the writing, this movie feels similar to Studio Ghibli’s When Marnie Was There, except this was more ambitious with the imaginary friend concept being stretched to its absolute limit. With every scene, you learn more about Lucy and her imaginary friend, Milly, and just as when this movie is already so immersive, Xilam pulls the rug and take this movie’s story up so many levels, leaving with an emotionally powerful third act and ending that almost made me burst into tears. Given I Lost My Body suffers from a rather abrupt ending that left me cold, Lucy Lost’s writing was a massive improvement.
The animation, as per Xilam’s standards, is also stunning. The hand-drawn animation style that Xilam perfected for so long feels extra fresh, as the animation takes on different styles within the hand-drawn animation spectrum, from colourful backgrounds to lively pencil sketches that expand the imagination of the moviegoers seeing this movie, I was in love with the animation overall.
The other elements are as strong, and as for my level of enjoyment, I know this has been on my radar for some time, but seeing the final version of the movie in action, Lucy Lost completely won me over. This is a complete package of an animated movie as you can get, and I am once again singing praises to Xilam Animation for another fantastic animated movie that is better than their previous animated movie, which was already a great movie in its own right despite the issues I have with its writing.
Overall, after seeing Lucy Lost, I can confidently say Xilam Animation has all grown up, and shows they can produce animated movies that are not so strictly kid-friendly while being very creative and emotionally impactful. Seriously, Xilam Animation, I should not be surprised by Lucy Lost, but man, they are really going places with both this and I Lost My Body!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs
Key Information
- Director: Cherifa Bakhti
- Animation Studios: Fabrique d’images, Freaks Factory, Fantabulous and Broadvision
- Country of Origin: Luxembourg, Belgium, France, and India
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 22 June 2026 (at Pathe Annecy)
The Review
Well, sometimes I cannot help myself but cover the family-friendly foreign CG animated movies at Annecy, but I am a victim of my own creation.
Honestly, you can copy and past any of my past reviews of similar, low-quality, and disposable family-friendly foreign CG animated movie I covered in the past into Dudley, and it would not be out of place, so I will keep this brief: the writing is very cliched and clumsily executed, the comedy is cheap and not good, some of the characters are quite annoying and do not have a lot of character development and the pacing is quite bad.
The animation, while actually not too bad, is the typical generic and not-so-exciting family-friendly foreign CG animation style that gives this sub-category a bad name. The colouring is quite washed out and the rendering looks fairly cheap compared to the other animated movies on this Rundown and I was overall not too impressed with the animation.
The soundtrack and other elements are what you expect from a movie like Dudley, and as for my level of enjoyment, while I feel there are other animated movies this year that are much worse, it does not excuse the fact that I was quite bored out of the overall experience. Not good…
I think I said enough about it, so I will say this: Dudley and the Invasion of the Space Slugs is as Viva Kids-coded of an animated movie you can get, and I won’t be surprised if they ended up picking this movie up for next year’s US release. It is that kind of disposable family-friendly foreign CG animated movie that gives this sub-category a very bad name, and trust me, there are other family-friendly animated movies from this year’s Annecy line up that are so more worth your time than this small distraction of a movie.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Violinist
Key Information
- Directors: Erwin Han and Raul Garcia
- Animation Studio: Robot Playground Media
- Country of Origin: Singapore, Spain and Italy
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 22 June 2026 (at Bonlieu)
The Review
After Dudley, I needed a good reason to come to this festival, and thankfully, I got my answer immediately with The Violinist, because this is much, much better!
I am gonna preface that it is going to be difficult to be objective about The Violinist, since this is from my country, but I really love this movie! It has elements similar to other animated movies I enjoyed, such as The Glassworker which got a spotlight in the 2024 edition, but it prefaces the history of Singapore about two violinist friends in pre-war Singapore. Sure, I don’t think all the story elements land, but as someone that would be particularly critical of this subject matter, as someone that studied the history of Singapore in secondary school, the writing is quite historically accurate. The pacing and emotional core are very solid and the main characters are very well-realised. It is a great story that tells the history of my home country quite well, I must say.
The animation is also really good. I don’t all the animation sequences land, but the animation style is reminiscent of Blue Giant, where the movie utilises a lot of hand-drawn animation with certain sequences being changed to a more dynamic 3D CG style of animation. The transition is equally jarring, but that does not take away from how beautiful the animation style is. There are a few animation sequences that are etched in my memory for years to come, especially the violin playing sequences. I cannot help but feel mersmerised in the movie’s animation.
Considering the soundtrack plays an important part, the music score is quite excellent, with a mix of classic and familiar violin-centric orchestral music and even Chinese traditional music that took me by surprise in a good way. As for my level of enjoyment, as this has been some time since Singapore last produced an animated movie in Eric Khoo’s Tatsumi, I am excited to see this movie before the rest of my country will, and I felt super emotional with this one. It is not every day I felt proud of my home country, but this is one of those rare moments. The long standing ovation at the end of the movie sealed the deal for me.
Overall, while there are a few elements within this movie that require more fine-tuning, for its first attempt, I am quite proud of Robot Playground and the rest of its team for pulling out this great debut at Annecy. I cannot wait to share this movie with my friends back in Singapore, because this could be the movie that could finally convince the Singapore government to at least fund my country’s animation industry even further.
(Also, cue me being shell-shocked over it winning the Annecy Cristal)
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
In Waves
Key Information
- Director: Nguyen Phuong Mai
- Animation Studios: Silex Films and Gao Shan Pictures
- Country of Origin: France and Belgium
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 23 June 2026 (at Bonlieu)
The Review
Of all the animated movies showcasing at Annecy, In Waves is without a question my most anticipated, and I am happy to report that this movie shattered my highest of expectations.
Considering I read the original graphic novel, I was afraid the movie will not faithfully adapt it, but thankfully , most of what was in the graphic novel ended up in the movie, with some changes to make the emotional depth way more impactful. The writing is powerful and depicts AJ and Kristen’s kinship throughout the movie’s runtime so, so well. The pacing is also just right without making the writing too sappy and the comedy is quite light-hearted and does not distract from the overall impact. Unsurprisingly, the characters are all fantastic, but I wanted to highlight up and rising actress Stephanie Hsu as Kristen. I know people love to ridicule her voice acting, but this is without a question her best voice acting yet, as this feels more like her Oscar-nominated role as Joy/Jobu Tupaki in Everywhere Everywhere All At Once and less like her other voice acting roles.
The animation, unsurprisingly, is one of the best at the festival and integrates the style from AJ Dungo’s graphic novel into the movie. This is a movie mixing 2D and 3D animation together, and yes, while this is yet another foreign CG animated movie, this is less like most other foreign CG animated movies and more like Flow’s beautiful CG style, which like In Waves, was showcased at Annecy. There is a sense of serenity and calm in a lot of the animation sequences, as well a lot of weight in others, making the animation so human-like. In fact, given this is the director’s first movie, I am just impressed over how this first-time director and the animation team managed to produce a way better foreign CG style of animation than other foreign CG studios that had churned so many animated movies but with worse results.
The soundtrack is excellent, as it utilises more low-fi tunes to remind moviegoers of the setting of this movie, and considering that low-fi is a rare music genre used in animated movies, that makes the soundtrack stand out even more. As for my level of enjoyment, what else can it be said? I knew I was going to love In Waves, but it was at the end of the movie that just like with Lucy Lost earlier, I was crying a lot too. It is not every day that you see an animated movie that makes you feel like you were part of the story, but this movie transported me to the movie itself. What a spell-binding masterpiece In Waves was!
Honestly, In Waves delivered in every possible way possible, and lives up to the hype it is getting ever since it’s Cannes premiere. Let’s hope Netflix gives this the Oscars push this movie deserves, because it has overthrown Hoppers as my most favourite animated movie of 2026 so far.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Brave Cat
Key Information
- Director: Gabriel Osorio
- Animation Studio: Punkrobot
- Country of Origin: Chile
- Rating: PG
- Annecy Screening Date: 23 June 2026 (At Pathe Annecy)
The Review
Considering how much I had been unimpressed with most animated movies from Mexico and Latin America, it is heartening we have one great animated movie from that region earlier this year with I Am Frankelda. Well, make that two because Brave Cat is really good!
While the director, who was in the screening, provided some context with Brave Cat, considering I had done my research prior to seeing this movie, I knew what I was going to expect, but even I was not expecting how emotional I feel about this movie. While not in the same league as Lucy Lost or In Waves, Brave Cat is surprisingly heavy-handed with both its writing and character development. This was an epic adventure about a cat in search for her missing mother, but it ended up becoming more than just that and simply about three friends with different motivations who ended up on the same journey together. It is not so easy to have such a well-developed story coming from Latin America, given the writing in their previous animated movies are not good, but Brave Cat’s writing is great, especially for family-friendly foreign CG animated movie standards. Plus, I love a lot of the characters in this movie, as a lot of them are fun to watch with so much depth between them.
The animation also took me by surprise. This is another foreign CG animated movie, but this looks different from the style I am used to, as this feels more like a stop-motion flick than a CG animated movie. The style and overall animation quality is top quality, especially coming from Latin America where the animation quality on average is… Pitiful to say the least. The character and background designs are nothing to be scoffed at, some of the sequences come alive and I enjoyed the animation a lot.
The soundtrack is pretty great, and as for my level of enjoyment, I had a lot of fun with Brave Cat. It is nowhere near the top of the animated movies I covered at Annecy so far, but considering how lacklustre the overall animation scene in Mexico and Latin America is, it is so encouraging to see animated movies like Brave Cat that show that at least there is some hope in Latin American animation.
After seeing this movie, I can finally say Latin American animation is back in full force, first with I Am Frankelda and then Brave Cat. It goes to show there are still great animators from this region that has been stuck in an endless loop of mediocrity for so long. Let’s hope they still have more in them in the coming years.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
To Be Continued
Overall, with a single exception, this Rundown of Annecy movies truly deliver in the best of ways, especially for Lucy Lost and In Waves. And this is only part 1!
Tune in next time as we cover the next few animated movies from this year’s Annecy edition. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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