Animation · Review ·
I Am Frankelda
Arturo and Roy Ambriz's Netflix stop-motion fantasy is gorgeous to look at, and critics broadly agree on that: handmade puppets, gothic sets and songs that win over most reviewers.
The dissent is about the story, which some find slow and over-explained next to the craft. Read from the reviews: four out of five.
Dir. Arturo & Roy Ambriz · 2025 · Mexico · Spanish original with English dub · on Netflix
The setup
Francisca Imelda is an aspiring horror writer in mid-nineteenth-century Mexico. Her strict grandmother disapproves of the monsters she keeps putting on paper. What Francisca does not know is that her stories are real: in a parallel realm, a prince named Herneval follows her pages into the human world. His kingdom feeds on human fear, and his parents forbid him from going back. That is the first act, and where this review stops.
It is also a prequel. I Am Frankelda comes from the series Frankelda's Book of Spooks, made by brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz at their studio Cinema Fantasma. IndieWire says it works without knowing the show; the AV Club adds that having seen it deepens the film. It was backed and mentored by Guillermo del Toro, and it is widely described as Mexico's first feature-length stop-motion film.
What works
The look carries the praise. Reviewers describe handmade sets and ornate puppets, many of them covered in hair, fuzz or feathers, with cotton-wool clouds, miniature fog and a mix of cardboard cutouts, 2D illustration, painted inserts and 3D models. More than a hundred people worked on it, many on their first feature. One critic says it could be enjoyed with the sound off; another says it feels bursting with ideas about the unruly side of creation.
The songs, written by the Ambriz brothers, get specific mention, including two numbers with pop-up-book and hand-painted visuals. One critic recommends the original Spanish track for its more poetic lyrics. Underneath the spooky surface, reviewers read a story about creative self-doubt and the odd two-way bond between an author and her creation.
What doesn't
Here critics split. The harshest voice is Matt Goldberg at TheWrap, who finds the pace slow, the themes over-explained and the romance underdeveloped, and calls the villain, a spider monster named Procustes, the most compelling character.
the storytelling never matches the visuals
Matt Goldberg, TheWrap
Others are kinder to the same weak spots. IndieWire finds the early exposition about the realm's politics laborious but says the images and a musical sequence win you back (a B+). Variety notes that the animation is less fluid and the design less polished than the best from Laika or Aardman, but treats the film as a major step forward for stop-motion in Mexico. For a house comparison, see our review of Wildwood, Laika's stop-motion fantasy, for a bigger-studio comparison.
How the critics line up
Warm overall, with the dissent aimed at story, not craft. The AV Club gives it an A-. Aggregators reported it at roughly 95% positive on Rotten Tomatoes from 44 critics and 74 out of 100 on Metacritic from 11, which fits a film admired more for what it looks and sounds like than for how it is plotted. Those figures were reported around the film's release and may have moved.
Is this for you?
Who it's for
Anyone who wants a spooky-season film that was clearly made by hand, and families with children old enough for a dark, quirky story. If the idea of del Toro-flavoured fairy tales appeals, this is a good choice; if you need the plot to be as inventive as the puppets, the dissenting reviews are worth reading first.
Where to watch
Reviews confirm it streams on Netflix, where it arrived in June 2026 after festival runs at Guadalajara, Annecy and Fantasia in 2025. Availability varies by country, and the Spanish and English-dub options may differ by region.