Premise: A group of orphans in a cartel controlled evacuated city try to dodge men who are after them for something they stole.
I'm going to be really reductive and say that Tigers Are Not Afraid is what you get when you watch City of God and Pan's Labyrinth then decide to make a movie. It's an interesting fusion or magical realism with actual realism to make deeper statements on childhood trauma. Overall, I respect the movie, but I must say that I feel a little duped. I have a hard time agreeing with this as a horror movie. Having dark imagery doesn't necessarily make something horror. It's no more a horror movie than Pan's Labyrinth. This annoyed me a bit, because I did watch this when I was in the mood for horror. This is a dark fairy tale.
While I appreciate the attempt to mix the real with the fanciful, I think the balance was a bit off. I wish it would've committed more one way or the other. Preferably more into the fairy tale. I like the idea of using fantasy as an escape (even if that feels very pulled from Guillermo del Toro), because it would make up for how little of a sense of location this movie has. It sort of felt like the filmmakers shot anywhere they could find an abandoned building for a couple days. There wasn't a lot of character to the location.
I didn't dislike the movie. It just didn't do a lot to impress me.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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