Each person in this world is unique, and some fit a more expected mold of what society wants them to be, forging a likely easier path to happiness. Those who don’t conform to definitions and expectations may have a tougher time finding their voices, and new circumstances can present fresh challenges even if they’ve found a way to more naturally fit in at home in daily life. Julián follows one young boy through a transformative summer as he gets to know his grandmother and discovers more about who he wants to be, and how that desire clashes with what a woman who barely knows him thinks he’s supposed to be.
Julián is dropped off by his father at the home of his Dominican grandmother in Brooklyn while he travels for work. While she is happy to see him, she’s not sure what to make of his father’s warning that he’s a bit different from other kids. Her attempts to teach him how she does things, which includes sitting at the table to finish a plate of food he hasn’t necessarily eaten before, don’t always land well, creating considerable awkwardness and discomfort. His excitement at the upcoming Mermaid Parade – and his eagerness to dress as a mermaid along with his three new female friends – presents an additional roadblock as he struggles to communicate what he wants with someone he doesn’t think will approve of that particular enthusiasm.
Julián is the latest film from Cartoon Saloon, best known for its Oscar-nominated features The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, and Wolfwalkers. It comes from director Louise Bagnall, herself an Oscar nominee for the short film Late Afternoon. Like those other productions, it features stark, vivid animation that pops off the screen. What’s most prominent here are the colors that speak to Julián’s Dominican heritage and to what he sees around him in Brooklyn, swirled together with the mystical excitement of the water and the mermaids he imagines himself to be.
Based on the children’s book Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love, this film has a true tenderness to it. Julián is an instantly relatable and inviting protagonist, clearly compelled by such a wondrous imagination that doesn’t always match his surroundings and which he isn’t able to succinctly explain to those who don’t know him. He quickly bonds with the girls his age he meets, but doesn’t know what to make of his abuela, who similarly isn’t sure how to speak to him, separated by the barrier of her son and his father, who isn’t able to spend the time he should telling each of them what he loves so much about the other and how they might in fact find they have plenty in common provided they take the time to sit with each other and ask open-minded questions.
This New York-set story takes place far from Ireland and involves considerably less magic and fantasy than much of Cartoon Saloon’s catalog, though it does still feature dreamlike interactions which weave in the supernatural for this lonely child just trying to figure out who he is. It’s yet another win for a smaller studio that hasn’t even been making features for twenty years, adapting a book that is already treasured by many into a marvelous celebration of individuality and tradition, and the unexpected way in which those two are often woven together. As a character, Julián is a delight, and the film is just as sweet and charming, inviting audiences along for a journey of growth and acceptance, with more than enough imagination and wonder along the way.
Movie Rating: 8/10
Julián makes its North American premiere in the Discovery section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
