Clap, clap, clap, wooo! The slogan of the movie was ‘believe the impossible’ and we congratulate Uncle Niyi and his team for indeed believing the impossible by making Nollywood’s first animated feature film. It was a blast, like we were transported into a fun and adventurous universe that when the movie was over, we were just like…Oh please, can we go back to Irumole forest? Mikolo is so worth watching and it deserves a Feast rating.
What a nice way to start wrapping up the year 2023 with a wonderful movie like Mikolo! Hello Nganda family, Hi Nganda visitors, my name is Rose!
Delicious
We have a lot of delicious things to mention about this film!
—Let me just be frank, it’s hard to bet on Uncle Niyi as he’s not really consistent; at times he gives us fantastic projects like The Set Up, and other times, we have so-so projects like The House of Secrets. So, I wasn’t sure what to expect with Mikolo. Buuuuutttt that opening scene was the bomb.
They say you have to catch your audience in the first 10 minutes and that’s what happened. Right away, we were taken into Irumole forest where we saw the mysterious creatures chasing a man, loved Babablu’s rocky voiceover which enhanced the storytelling, and Habeeb’s periodic interrupting the story made it fun. We knew right there this was going to be a good watch!
—Casting was perfect! Pamilerin Ayodeji (playing Funke) really looked like Mofiyinfoluwa Asenuga (playing Habeeb, her brother). Yvonne Jegede (playing the kids’s mother) looked like Pamilerin and also looked like Aunty Ayo Mogaji (who played the grandmother). Daniel Etim Effiong looked indeed like the kids’ father. Everyone delivered a convincing performance. We were blown away by the siblings’ chemistry, this was the type of chemistry that quickly invited you into the screenplay because it was effortless.
—No criticism of the animation: characters were adequately designed, the visuals were enchanting and fueled our interest. The dynamic movements of the creatures were engaging. Both children and adults can connect with the magical world created
—The costume, make-up, and set designers have to be applauded! What a refined work executed. Everyone looked so fresh and clean; Funke’s hairstyle was funky and appropriate for her age; Abula, who was the man protecting the creatures of the forest, was a nice representation of the African culture with the white marks on his face and the tribal outfit. And Habeeb was even wearing a dinosaur pajama (haha)
—The special touch that the film brought was elevating the Nigerian culture and reinforcing civic manners in children, e.g. Funke and Habeeb were reminded to properly greet their elders, and Funke apologized when she was in the wrong. The location choice of the story being in Funke’s grandma’s village encouraged families to go back to their roots and discover its beauty
—It was so great that Mikolo was given a personality of its own; it was friendly, always hungry, liked to dance, and very spontaneous. This made us wanna get to know it; I tried to search online for the meaning of Mikolo and the only thing I could find was: Social Person, Great Companion, Graceful. This is the personality that the story aspired us to be
—The overall message called us to live bravely, be adventurous, explore life. In this day and age, we’re so restricted to our jobs and homes that we fail to enjoy the wealth that nature has to offer. The fact that Habeeb dressed up as an explorer during his first visit to the mountain reinforced this message. Live out loud abegi!
Bland
—Teeny weeny negative has to be the dark and plain cinematography as well as the dark color grading which didn’t accentuate the fun and bubbly vibe of Mikolo.
Again this was a job well done by Uncle Niyi and his team, Mikolo is currently streaming on Prime Video. And it’s my time to say bye bye