From Mashable · Kristy Puchko · · 2m
A boy who wants to be a mermaid
Cartoon Saloon turns a 40-page picture book into a crayon-textured summer in Brooklyn, and it lands.
In brief
Cartoon Saloon turns a 40-page picture book into a crayon-textured summer in Brooklyn, and it lands. Julián never comes out or debates labels. It just shows a kid loving what he loves, and the adults learning to let him. Originally reported by Mashable.
Best animated film of 2026
Mashable's critic calls Julián their favorite animated movie of the year, adapted from Jessica Love's bestselling picture book Julián Is a Mermaid.
“I think I have just seen my favorite animated movie of 2026.”
A year stacked with sequels
2026 gave cinemas Toy Story 5, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie and a pile of talking-animal originals. Julián stands apart from all of it.
Cartoon Saloon does it again
The studio behind Wolfwalkers, The Secret of Kells and The Breadwinner delivers 85 minutes that echo Steven Universe, Spirited Away, Craig of the Creek and Luca.
“Julián thrives on comparison, not by being better than these rightly beloved films.”
A summer with abuela
Julián spends the season with his Dominican American grandmother in Brooklyn. He is messy, dreamy and ocean-obsessed. Her parenting is my way or the highway.
Mess as comedy and friction
He wrecks her bathroom in a very Paddington way. Director Louise Bagnall plays it as both adorable and genuinely exasperating, so you side with the boy and the grandmother at once.
The haircut that breaks him
Abuela sees him with three girls planning their mersonas for Coney Island's Mermaid Parade and assumes he's a lady killer. He asks for long braids. She crops it short. He cries.
“show off [his] handsome face”
Told he is too much
There is no coming out scene and no labels. Abuela sews the shimmering costume he wants, then warns him about being too much, and the rules meant to protect him leave him ashamed.
“He's just a kid, loving the things he loves and being told that's wrong.”
Markers instead of CGI
Bagnall skips the standard three-dimensional look for the texture of markers and crayons. Round, bouncy character designs and a warm Afro-Latino Brooklyn full of color.
Joy makes the sadness sting
Flying fish, a rising sea goddess, a whale shark with a belly of stars. Then the animation stiffens as the boy locks his imaginary friend inside a jewelry box.
“This brilliant boy, whose nature is to sparkle, is (however briefly) urged to hide his light.”
In short
Julián never comes out or debates labels. It just shows a kid loving what he loves, and the adults learning to let him.
