The first animation I ever saw was Tom & Jerry. I wasn’t even able to watch it at my house because we did not have a TV at the time. We were at a family friend’s, and I remember going home with my Mom that night very fascinated with what I’d just seen.
Although there was no dialogue between Tom and Jerry, you could just tell what the concept was about – trust and survival. I may not have been old enough to fully grasp what those two concepts meant, but they laid a foundation for my life lessons as a tiny human living in a society filled with other humans.
Now as an adult, it was the same feeling I got the first time I watched Nigeria’s first feature-length cinematic animated film, LadyBuckit and the Motley Mopsters, on Sunday, December 6, 2020, at the exclusive screening in Lekki, Lagos.
I thought about children who have been watching Marvel and DC animations and what those stories meant to them. It then made me realize how much of an impact a culturally-rooted animated film would have on African kids, within and outside the continent.
If you haven’t seen the trailer, you can watch it here now before heading out to watch the movie at the cinemas. Ladybuckit and the Motley Mopsters highlights narratives that are familiar to young kids.
It will help them understand why certain things happen, it will help them recognize the diversity in humanity via the peculiar characters on the screen, and ultimately it could help them navigate through this maze of life. What more could a mother crave for in a film!
The exciting world of Ladybuckit and The Motley Mopsters is in cinemas right now. So, why not take your kids, your nieces and nephews, in fact, take the whole family to not only have fun but also to make history as Nigeria’s first feature-length animated film makes its grand debut on the big screens today!
– Oyindamola Benjamin-Black is a mother of three young boys. The Finance Administrator lives in Lagos with her family.
