Film

Chico & Rita

Name: Chico & Rita
Genre: Animation, Music, Romance
Released: 2010
Cast: Mario Guerra, Limara Meneses, Eman Xor Oña, Jon Adams, Renny Arozarena

A hand-drawn love letter to mid-century Cuba and jazz, following a pianist and singer whose passionate connection fractures across decades and continents. Ravishing to look at, intoxicating to listen to—this is romance as music itself, with all the ecstasy and ache that entails. For anyone who's ever believed a song could change your life.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love animated films that treat jazz and bolero as a living, sensual language, where the music carries the romance and the drawings keep pace with every shift in rhythm.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or a light, easy evening, since the film lingers on its songs and on long stretches of longing rather than moving quickly from scene to scene.

What it asks of you: It asks for patience and a willingness to sit with melancholy for ninety-three minutes, letting the music set the tempo rather than the story pushing you forward.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

La La Land2016

Two musicians fall in love through music in a gorgeously realized world. Like Chico & Rita, it weds visual beauty to a genuine emotional ache about art, ambition, and whether love can survive them.

But If you found the ending too bittersweet or the dancing overshadowed by the plot, this explores similar territory with even more melancholy.

Coco2017

A vibrant animated celebration of Latin culture, music, and family across time. It shares Chico & Rita's visual splendor and the idea that songs carry memory, identity, and love across generations.

But Lighter in mood and more plot-driven—less about romantic longing, more about belonging and acceptance.

Midnight in Paris2011

A man falls in love across time in a city saturated with artistic history and nostalgia. Both films use a specific place and era as almost a character themselves, and both hinge on whether you can truly live in the past.

But Woody Allen's self-indulgence might grate; the film is more whimsical than Chico & Rita's genuine heartbreak.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Chico & Rita

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Phantom of the Opera2004

Both center on a gifted musician whose artistic gift is inseparable from romantic yearning, and both believe that music-making itself is a form of seduction and emotional truth.

A lush, doomed musical romance where the music itself is the character's deepest self. Like Chico & Rita, it understands that song can express what conversation cannot, and that beauty and obsession are often the same thing.

But Operatic in every sense—melodramatic, overwrought, occasionally camp. The special effects look dated; if Andrew Lloyd Webber makes you groan, stay away.

Carmen1984

A flamenco dancer's passion and defiance told through movement, music, and visual poetry. It captures the same idea that music isn't background—it's the story itself, the thing that makes you feel alive.

But Experimental and visually abstract in places; if you want clear narrative momentum, you won't find it here.

West Side Story1961

Young love blooming and dying amid music and geography. The 1961 version, especially, has that same glossy, doomed-romance energy and treats dance and song as emotional truth-telling.

But The Sondheim score is undeniable, but the film's pacing can feel theatrical rather than cinematic.

Swing Time1936

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at their peak, dancing out a love story across music and movement. A reminder that romance through performance is an ancient and perfect idea.

But Black-and-white, mid-tempo by modern standards; the setup feels thin compared to what the dancing itself accomplishes.

Amélie2001

A visually dazzling film about loneliness and connection set in a romanticized city. Both use animation and art direction to create worlds you want to live inside, where emotion is rendered as beauty.

But Whimsy can tip into saccharine; Amélie's tone is often lighter than the genuine sadness in Chico & Rita.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Pure joy expressed through music, movement, and spectacle. A masterclass in romance told through performance—the dancing *is* the feeling, the same way the boleros in Chico & Rita do the emotional work.

But Breezy and funny rather than bittersweet; if you want stakes and sorrow, look elsewhere.

Cabaret1972

Decadence, performance, and doomed love in a corrupt, glittering world. Both films understand that music and spectacle can be both beautiful and darkly ironic—that the show doesn't save you.

But Nastier and more political; the romance is almost secondary to the larger moral rot.