Alberto Vazquez’s Decorado is not the kind of animated film you throw on for easy comfort viewing. This one sounds more like a late-night brain kacau session — dark, strange, and very much interested in making you question whether the world around you is even real.
The film follows Arnold, a mouse who starts suspecting that the town he lives in may be fake — like a stage set, or decorado in Spanish. From there, the story digs into work, identity, romance, capitalism, control, and the pressure of living inside systems that feel bigger than you.
In an interview with Anime Corner, Vazquez explained that Decorado did not start as a feature film. The idea began as a comic series he made in 2012, before becoming a short film in 2016. There were also plans to expand it into an adult animation series, but when that did not happen, the team reshaped the material into a full-length movie.
That long development path matters because Decorado seems to be built from years of ideas slowly fermenting. Vazquez pointed to classic Disney films, dystopian literature like 1984 and Brave New World, The Truman Show, The Prisoner, Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel’s absurd humour, and Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage as influences.
That mix already tells you this is not a standard animated release. It is cute-animal visuals meeting adult anxiety, basically.
One of the biggest ideas behind the film is how reality itself feels shakier now. Vazquez talked about social media, AI, and megacorporations changing how people understand the world. In the movie, this is represented through Alma, a giant corporation he described as a blend of Google, Amazon, and Monsanto.
For Malaysian and SEA viewers, that angle hits quite close. We live on platforms, work through apps, buy through mega marketplaces, and constantly hand over data just to function. So even if Decorado is a Spanish-language animated dystopia, the fear behind it is very global — and honestly, very familiar.
Vazquez also said the film’s traditional animation was a major focus. The team aimed for a hand-painted style, while he also paid attention to script and pacing. But he was realistic about production limits, noting that directors often end up making the movie they can make, not the perfect movie in their head.
The story also expanded beyond Arnold. Vazquez said Maria’s life becomes more important halfway through, shifting the film into a wider ensemble piece about different people trying to escape their situation. Some turn to drugs or affairs, but the emotional core is still relationships that feel genuine — love, friendship, and human connection in a fake-looking world.
That is probably the part anime and animation fans here should keep an eye on. SEA audiences already embrace darker animated storytelling, whether through anime, indie films, or festival titles. Decorado sounds like it belongs in that same conversation: animation that looks stylised but is absolutely not childish.
The film also plays with tone, moving between humour, drama, and psychological horror. Vazquez said he enjoys catching viewers off guard, and the movie includes multiple smaller stories and side characters, including Crazy Chicken, Duck Ronnie, and a demon.
When asked what viewers should focus on, Vazquez highlighted themes of accusation and control — from governments, companies, workplaces, and even neighbours. His hope is that audiences think about their own lives after watching it.
Decorado is set for a North American theatrical release through GKIDS starting May 15, in its original Spanish language version and a new English dub. No Malaysia or SEA cinema release was mentioned in the interview, so local fans may need to wait for festival screenings, streaming news, or import options.
Still, this is one to keep on the radar if you like animation that actually bites back.
Source: Anime Corner