Buffalo Kids review – CGI old west adventure with a big, warm heart
Three children and a puppy traverse 19th-century America
in this wholesome family film – which is especially admirable for its representation
of disability
The Guardian
By Catharine Bray
October 10, 2024
This is the family-friendly animated story of Tom and Mary, a pair of parentless 19th-century mites making the journey from Ireland to California in search of their uncle, who they hope will adopt them. Along the way they fall in with a tiny puppy and a boy named Nick who uses a wheelchair, and this gang proceed to have various wholesome adventures before the happy ending, which ties everything up neatly at the hour and a half mark.
Some family films – while not reaching the god-tier of Wallace and Gromit or Paddington – are perfectly decent entertainments for their intended audience, no more no less. It is into this category that we can slot Buffalo Kids. It’s amiable and rattles along nicely enough without ever really surprising anyone. It is seamlessly dubbed into English from the Spanish original, and while the CGI character design isn’t particularly charming, there are some nice old-west backdrops and scenery on offer.
The most distinctive thing about it is the inclusion of a disabled lead character: still a rarity when the story is not explicitly about that disability, and even more so in lighthearted family animations. Not that Nick’s disability is glossed over or painted as a quirk – he is paralysed and cannot talk, and there are several sequences in which Tom and Mary are shown making adjustments to accommodate him. And naturally he’s instrumental in saving the day at the end.
Buffalo Kids is not the kind of film that will become a cultural phenomenon à la Frozen, but it is engaging enough, with its warm heart firmly in the right place.
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. When Niall doesn't show up at the docks, Tom and Mary set out to find him with the company of a stray dog, Sparky, sneaking on board a train with a group of orphans when they cannot afford a ticket. During the journey, Mary befriends non-verbal paraplegic boy Nick, who is rejected from his initial possible family due to his disability. The orphans' supervisor, Eleanor, learns of their circumstances and assures them she won't give them away to the train staff.
When the train stops to refuel, Mary takes Nick off the train to touch the nearby buffalo, but the train departs without them on board as everyone else in the carriage was asleep. Tom is able to get a nearby cart in working order and travel after the train, but they find it deserted after an apparent Indian attack. The children have a close call with a pack of coyotes that leaves Tom with an injured leg, and when they stop to collect water they are captured by an Indian tribe. However, the tribe proves to be friendly, and affirms that they had nothing to do with the train attack.
Tom, Mary and Nick are eventually led to another group of white men, but these men turn out to be the bandits responsible for attacking the train, having taken the passengers as slave labour to work in a mine. When the children are reunited with the orphans and Eleanor, one of the other prisoners is revealed to be Tom and Mary's uncle Niall, who was captured from another train.
Tom, Mary and Nick manage to escape the mine and contact
a nearby fortress for help, as well as the Indian tribe. The two groups work
together to stage an assault and rescue the prisoners before the bandits can
destroy the now-depleted mine to cover up their actions. Niall, Tom and Mary
agree to remain as a family, and Eleanor not only joins them but invites Nick
to come along as well.
Buffalo Kids – International title
Μικροί ήρωες σε δράση – Greek title
Buffalo Kids: Uma Aventura na América
– Portuguese title
Как приручить бизона – Russian title
Klinci kaubojci – Serbian title
Otroci divjega zahoda – Slovakian
title
A 2024 Spanish animated film
production [4 Cats Pictures, Atresmedia Cine, CORE
Animation, ESCine Español, Warner Bros. Pictures]
Producers: Lillian González, Neil
Landau, Clever Beretta Custodio, Ricardo Marco Budé,
Jordi Gasull, Toni Novella, Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano, Rosa Pérez, Marc
Sabé, Ignacio
Salazar-Simpson, Rosa García Pérez, Victor Peral
Director: Juan Jesús García Galocha,
Pedro Solís García
Story: Cuerdas by Pedro Solís
García
Screenplay: Jordi Gasull, Javier López
Barreira
Animation:
Music: Fernando Velázquez
Running time: 93 minutes
Cast:
Mary, Tom, Nick, Eleanor, Wilson,
Niall, Dudley, Lobo Amarillo, Luna Roja, Inspector Wallace, Sr. Wayne, Sarah,
Annie, Governess Eleanor, Outlaw Wilson, Annie, Uncle Niall, Lady
Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0OsdEnkFnw
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