Pallotty 90’s Kids Review | A Passable Nostalgia Package With Two Standout Performers

Pallotty 90’s Kids, the latest Malayalam kids’ film presented by Lijo Jose Pellissery and directed by Jithin Raj, is a pretty simplistic take on friendship, and the highlight of the movie is the terrific performances of the two kids, Davinchi Santhosh and Neeraj Krishna, who shouldered this film with their brimming energy. By packaging the movie with a whole lot of nostalgic elements, Jithin Raj manages to keep the film in that feel-good zone.

The film is set in the 90s, and our main characters are two kids, Kannan and Unni. Kannan is older than Unni, and Unni looks up to him much like an elder brother. The two boys have a warm rapport, and Unni believes that Kannan is immensely talented and can do anything. The minor struggles in the lives of these two and the major impact of that on the lives of others are what we witness in Pallotty 90’s Kids.

The USP of this movie is those two kids. Usually, when you see child artists perform, you will find yourself giving them some slack for their age. But that was never required in the case of Pallotty. The serious conversations between the two boys have a hilarious feel to them because of their honest reactions. A larger part of the movie is invested in showing the routine life of these two. The idea is to show the selfless friendship of Kannan to an elderly audience to make them loosen up. But that part was a bit too swift, reducing the impact the movie could have had on 90s kids who are otherways reminiscing their childhood while watching this movie.

The incorporation of elements that would evoke nostalgia in the audience, along with the placement of humor in situations, is what makes this film pretty engaging. The letters of Unni, his anxieties ranging from whether a kiss can lead to pregnancy to whether the bubblegum he ate could kill him have this cute and funny side. The event that demotivates Kannan has a significant space in the story. The character played by Saiju Kurup, Manjulettan, is actually a smart scripting trope on paper. But like I said, the “moral of the story” aspect of this film pops out suddenly, and the movie sort of enters a very cheesy space of friendship in a very short span of time on the screen.

Master Davinchi Santhosh had won the state award for the best child actor for this film, and the beauty of his performance was in the minimalism. In most of the sequences, Kannan is the one who reacts to Unni’s questions before answering them. Davinchi Santhosh’s performance actually has a pretty mature tone in certain scenes. Neeraj Krishna, as the cute little Unni, is the source of laughter in this movie. There are various modulations of him calling Kannan, varying according to the seriousness of the situation, and I thought if one could just cut all those “Kannan Chetta” calls from him, that itself would put a smile on people’s faces. As Manjulettan, Saiju Kurup gets a fairly good role in this movie. Arjun Ashokan and Balu Varghese have supported the film with their cameos.

Recently, when animated movies like Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot were released, it sort of made us realize that if the story has a proper emotional core and a well-balanced script that strikes the correct pitch in presenting the humor, the so-called kids’ films can easily tap into the business of mainstream cinema. Even though Jithin Raj’s film has its shortcomings in the final act, the humor and relatability we enjoy while watching this film make it obvious that a well-made kids’ film can attract an audience.