Buffalo Kids is a 2024 Spanish computer-animated adventure film directed by Pedro Solís and Juan Galocha.
Plot
Set in the 19th century, the plot follows the adventures of two orphaned Irish siblings (Tom and Mary) who emigrate to the United States to reunite with their uncle Niall in New York City, befriending non-verbal paraplegic boy Nick and starting a journey across North America instead.[1][2][3]
Written by Jordi Gasull and Javier Barreira, the screenplay of Buffalo Kids is based on Pedro Solís' short film Cuerdas [es], which is in turn inspired by the real-life relationship between Solís' children, Alejandra and Nico (with Mary and Nick respectively being their alter egos in the film).[6] The film is a 4Cats Pictures, Atresmedia Cine, Anangu Grup, Little Big Boy AIE, and Mogambo Productions production.[7]
Release
The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 14 June 2024.[8] It also made it to the animation slate of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival for its Asian premiere,[9] and to the 'Elements +6' competition of the 54th Giffoni Film Festival.[10] Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it was released theatrically in Spain on 14 August 2024.[3][11] It had a €0.59 million (88,053 admissions) box office gross in its opening weekend, with a total of €1.2 million (187,508 admissions) when adding Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 figures.[12] In the starting month of theatrical window, it drew over 600,000 admissions.[13] Warner Bros. also handled distribution in the United Kingdom and Ireland (setting a 11 October 2024 release) and Italy (setting a 31 October 2024 release).[14][15]
The film was also sold to Best Film (Poland), NOS Lusomundo (Portugal), The Film Group (Greece), MegaCom Film (former Yugoslavia), Filmhouse (Israel), Front Row Entertainment (Middle East), Nathan Studios (Philippines), and ARP Sélection (France).[14][1]
Reception
Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas gave the film 85 points ('very good'), declaring it "an excellent animated film aimed at children's audiences", very nice and "very enjoyable for its human and production values".[16]
Javier Ocaña of Cinemanía rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, considering that, while "soft and ultimately relying too much on chance" vis-à-vis the outcome of the story, it is "entertaining, and it has "some nice gags" and an "excellent pace".[17]
Juan Pando [es] of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, positively writing about how the film "will make the kids feel like they are part of a great adventure", while negatively citing how it displays an "overly politically-correct vision of the West".[5]