The Adventures of Monica and Friends

The Adventures of Monica and Friends (As Aventuras da Turma da Mônica) is a 1982 Brazilian animated anthology film directed by Mauricio de Sousa, based on his Monica's Gang comic books. This was the first feature film based on Monica's Gang and which began production of the cartoon series based on the comics.

The film mixes animation with some scenes made in live-action interpreted by Mauricio de Sousa in his studio. The film shows four individual stories that end up linking through the characters interacting with Mauricio through phone calls.

Distributed by Embrafilme, the film was released theatrically in São Paulo on 23 December 1982 and in Rio de Janeiro on 10 January 1983.

Plot
The film begins with a live-action sequence focusing on Mauricio de Sousa working at his desk until he starts receiving phone calls from his characters—Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge, Maggy, Franklin and Blu—who have just discovered that they were appearing in a film.

While Sousa seeks inspiration to create the plot of the film, the film moves into the comics and focuses on the animated characters.

The first story named "O Plano Infalível" (lit translation: The Infallible Plan) follows Jimmy Five and Smudge as they devise several plans to pull a prank on Monica, but all the gadgets created by Jimmy Five eventually backfire against him in a style of humor similar to the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.

The second story is named "Um Amor de Ratinho" (lit translation: A Mice's Love) and it centers on Monica, who attends a costume party at Franklin's house wearing a mouse costume, but is accidentally shrunk by one of Franklin's inventions and befriends a small mouse that falls in love with her.

The third story named "A Ermitã" (lit translation: The Female Hermit) also focuses on Monica. Feeling rejected by her friends (who are secretly organizing her birthday party), Monica decides to run away from home to live as a hermit in the mountains.

The fourth and last story named "O Império Empacota" (lit translation: The Pack Empire) is a parody of the Star Wars films, focused on Monica and Jimmy Five. A mysterious robot rabbit is sent to Earth to dominate the planet by orders of his master, Lorde Coelhão. The robot lands in Jimmy Five's bedroom and tries to attack him, but all of his attempts go wrong. The robot is not noticed by Jimmy Five until the two meet Monica and accidentally ends up abducting the two by stealing Monica's stuffed rabbit Samson. Monica ends up being imprisoned in a gift package while Jimmy Five meets Lorde Coelhão (lit translation: Lord Big Rabbit) and his plan to conquer Earth. Jimmy Five flees into a spaceship, saving Monica and using the spaceship he manages to defeat Lorde Coelhão and his robots.

At the end of the film, Monica and Jimmy Five, still inside the spaceship, land on Sousa's desk, joining Smudge, Maggy, Franklin, Blu and Angel. All the characters wonder about the film which Sousa intended to do, but he says he no longer needs to make the film because it is done, referring indirectly to the stories that the viewer has just watched.

Critical reception
The movie received mixed reactions from film critics. Carlos Fonseca, writing for Última Hora, said the film still felt amateurish, despite the "reasonable quality" and animation style similar to US productions. In this regard, he said he still preffered Piconzé (1972), third animated feature film produced in the country. He considered "O Império Empacota" the best story of the filme by having a "start, middle and end", while other stories were "absolutely uninteresting" or lacked rhythm. On the other hand, Rubens Ewald Filho wrote to A Tribuna that this episode had a "cute, but unsatisfying" story, preferring the episode "Um Amor de Ratinho." He concluded by saying that the film was "[n]othing exceptional, but it works quite well", criticizing only the ending, where Mauricio interacts with the characters.