Six Things We Can’t Wait To See in LadyBuckit Film This Weekend

It’s finally here! Nigeria’s first feature-length animated film with a cinematic release is in cinemas from Friday, December 11, 2020! Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters has taken two years, a 30-member cast, a $1 million production budget and so much more, and it’s here! Finally!

We have seen the teasers, the trailer (and a lucky group of people were invited to watch the movie at the screening on Sunday, December 6, 2020) and it looks 60-shades of promising.

So, here’s why we have refused to hear the gist from friends, and we are heading to the cinema this weekend.

Ladybuckit in LBMM 

1. LadyBuckit:

Any Nigerian child that turns into a bucket deserves a good scolding and definitely a movie named after them!

Who heard of the ‘yam-stories’ as a kid? The adults told us that if we picked money from the floor, we would turn into tubers of yam, instantly! The fear of turning into yams guided some, and apparently, the desire to turn into a bucket guided Lady Buckit. We are super-curious, how and why?

The three bullies in LBMM

2. The Three Bullies:

Osheeeeey! Did you see the bullies’ entrance in the trailer? We need to know who they are, their parents and what makes them feel so important. The audacity!

A scene from Ladybuckit and the Motley Mopsters 

3. Good Pidgin:

We get to have our own animated characters, created by Nigerians for the world. And we grinned when we heard ‘We no dey bite’, somewhere in one of the teasers. And then the trailer dropped, and the characters wouldn’t stop sprinkling in the pidgin. Colour us proud. Naija to the world!

See that head of hair!

4. Hair Game:

Forget the bone-straight wig for a minute and check out the ‘team natural’ shout-out in the teasers. Have you seen Bukky’s head of hair or her edges?! Snatched and ready to go.

When African-Americans were jumping upandan about representation in Black Panther, some of us did not understand. Now, we get it!

5. All The Characters:

Whether it’s the matronly Dustee, or the ‘lurved up’ Bozimo couple, or the odd-looking Mopsters crew, the movie has pretty interesting-looking characters. And what’s not to love? Bimbo Akintola, Kalu Ikeagwu, Patrick Doyle, Francis Sule, Bola Edwards, are some of the voices behind these characters

Blessing Amidu, Producer and Executive Producer of LBMM

6. The Story:

Yes, it’s a first for Nigeria. Yes, it looks like so much fun.  But what really has us jumping is the storyline. A young precocious girl, who is in love with math, finds herself in wildly unfamiliar territory. Later, she encounters a band of highly unusual characters who change the course of her destiny.

And if the responses from the private screening on Sunday are any indication, then we are in for a ride.  Mr. Evans, an enthusiastic father who attended the screening with his family, shared his reaction to the 80-minute movie, “If every Nigerian does what the creative industry has done with this movie, this country will be extraordinary. LBMM is fantastic and an inspiration to every industry in Nigeria.”

Okay na, we have this weekend locked down. It’s chilling, self-care and Mopsters-watching. What is your weekend going to look like? LBMM will be in cinemas from Friday, December 11, 2020.

Ends

Blogpost

LBMM: Why Every Mum Needs To Take This Movie-Break This December

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, Lady Buckit 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 recognise 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.