Felix and the Hidden Treasure a.k.a. Felix and the Treasure of Morgaa Parent Guide

Two years after the disappearance of his father, young Felix (Gabriel Lessard) hasn’t given up hope, although everyone else has. With his mom out of town for a few days, Felix jumps at the chance of one more search with the help of an old fisherman named Tom (Guy Nadon). As they scour the island that Felix’s father was last known to be on, Felix and Tom stumble across something remarkable. Could it be the fabled treasure of Morgäa?

Does your young child enjoy stories about cults, real estate investing, and tax evasion? Then, boy, do I have a movie for you! What’s that? Children aren’t interested in those topics? Huh. Someone should have told that to the writers of Felix and the Hidden Treasure because they put a lot of time into those plot points. In all seriousness I have no idea who this film is for. It’s incredibly boring, humorless, and deals with concepts far beyond the scope of most children’s interests. I would say at least it’s mercifully short, but this felt like the longest 84 minutes of my life.

Don’t just take my word for it, let’s ask an actual child. My 4-year-old watched Felix with me, and he had some opinions. For context, he likes everything. This kid has never met a piece of media he didn’t like. As the credits rolled, I asked him what he thought of the movie. “I don’t like it” he replied. I asked him to elaborate on why and he said, “It’s not my favorite”. With some more prodding his final words on the subject were, “It was boring to watch”. So, there you have it, folks. A preschooler with low standards didn’t even like it, so take that how you will.

Aside from the lack of humor and weirdly mature subject matter, this film also fails in other areas. The animation is really bad. Like, high school computer project bad. Pro tip for aspiring film makers: if you don’t have the budget to animate water, don’t set your story on the ocean! I tend to be a bit more lenient on productions aimed at children if they have strong messages or educational value, but alas, Felix has neither. The only message I could glean from it is that immortality is a curse. I’m not sure why kids need to learn that - unless you have an aspiring alchemist on your hands.

I’m not going to say no one should ever watch this movie. It’s not offensively terrible, considering the budget and the intended audience, nor does it have much in the way of objectionable content. I guess my real gripe is that it has no point. The story is boring, the characters are flat, and there’s no discernable moral. It’s not even entertaining enough to keep a kid occupied long enough to give you some blessed quiet time. If you, like Felix, are searching for hidden treasure, you won’t find it here.