A talented animation team does its best to bail water from this sinking ship, but an overreliance on contrivances and slapstick leaves too many holes to plug.

Whether the love story completely works or not, 'ChaO' is such a visual wonder that it hardly matters. It’s a lush and emotional and, despite the sugar-addled intensity Yasuhiro Aoki crams into every scene, oddly inviting.

The most enchanting thing about 'ChaO’ isn’t necessarily its hyperpoptimism, but the many little ways in which its breezy and arresting style reflects its creators’ lightly held Utopianism.

The film, beneath all its visual hyperactivity, ends up being exactly that: a story about learning to live with what we don't fully understand. [Full review in Spanish]