User Reviews

It is a charming, accomplished piece of animation cinema that will have a universal appeal . In the small village where Amadeo (voiced by Rupert Grint) lives there is no one good enough to challenge his skills at Table Football. But, while Amadeo may be a genius as a table football player in real life he's a loser . He's in love with Lara (voiced by Fern Deacon) , his childhood friend , but he's so timid that he can't bring himself to confess his love for her . So he just hangs out in his quaint , timeless village . When Amadeo beats the village bully Flash (Anthony Head's voice) at Table Football , the scene is set for an epic rivalry . As Amadeo is extremely skilled and unbeatable in the former play , boasting an unbeaten record on the table in the local bar . Consumed with anger , psychotic Flash helped by his manipulative henchman , vows to get even and 10 years later he returns as an International Superstar, a Football Icon and Galatico determined to wreak his revenge . Flash demolishes the village to build a Football Academy . He destroys the table football table and takes away Amadeo's girl friend the lovely Lara in his chopper . His goal is to face down the terrifyingly skilled and intimidating player with the help of the football team he's assembled . As when Amadeo is distraught one of his tears falls on Skip the captain of the Table Football Players he comes to life and together with other key football players, Rico and Loco, they persuade Amadeo to fight back against the nasty Flash and his villainous hoodlum The Agent. Later on , the young man named Amadeo sets off on an unexpected adventure with the players of his beloved Foosball game and the final match will be in a real football stadium .

This entertaining film packs amusement , slapstick , emotions , comic situations , tongue-in-cheek , fun comedy and many other things . This is a fast crazy movie with lot of funny situations , antics , bemusement and with a bunch of very hilarious roles . It turns out to be pleasantly funny that offers no intellectual stimulus whatsoever ; an exercise in pure amusement in which entertainment and fun are guaranteed . This moving picture contains a series of roller coaster adventures when the two rivals finally face each other they must settle their old score ; at the end takes places an epic confrontation in an impressive stadium that results to be the highlight of the movie . The amusing characters are quite silly , grotesque and likable and the film races on at incredible speed . ¨Futbolín¨ or ¨Unbeatables¨ tells the tale of a gifted kid called Amadeo , who often keeps his talents hidden has two loves in his life , football, and Lara, but he has suffered previously at the hands of his nemesis, Flash , then Amadeo gets some unexpected allies when the tiny football players on his table magically come to life .

The motion picture was stunningly directed by Juan Jose Campanela and was deservedly Oscar nominated for the best foreigner film . Academy Award-winning director Juan José Campanella was born on July 19, 1959 in Capital Federal, Argentina. Having won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with the disquieting drama The Secret in Their Eyes, he decided to try something so different ; few would have predicted that Argentine director Juan José Campanella would have turned his head to the children's animation . He had the inevitable pressure that comes with a project that follows an Oscar winning film, and about assembling his British cast, which consists of Rupert Grint, Rob Brydon , Fern Deacon , Anthony Head , adding cameo/voice by the same director as Eusebio . Campanella is a director and writer, working in Television as ¨Law and Order¨, ¨ Winds of water ¨, as cinema , being well known for ¨The Avellaneda's moon ¨, ¨Same love same rain¨, ¨Son of the bride¨ with his fetish actor Ricardo Darin (2004) and of course his best film , the hard-hitting, sombre drama The Secret in Their Eyes(2009). ¨Unbeatables¨ also titled ¨Metegol" , or or "Foosball" or "Underdogs" rating : Above average , well worth seeing . Essential and indispensable watching for kiddies and adults .

In a small town, the local pub is everyone's meeting point and for a young boy the plastic football game is his whole world. As with all boys, he had to deal with bullies and in a heated exchange he defeated the town's bully who swore to avenge this.

With the passing of time, the town's bully became rich and famous but the bitterness never subsided so he plans to take over this little town and destroy the pub in which he as defeated by what he considered a nobody. The boy who defeated him, is not prepared to sit and take it but will fight to the end to protect his home town.

On the whole, the story had cracks and was uninteresting so one ought not expect lots of excitement. The only compensation came from the good animation with a sense of seeing the world through the eyes of a young idealistic person.

(No spoilers ahead)

Kids who watch violent movies will enjoy this. It has a few original ideas that can be entertaining for adults as well. However, the interactions between characters are very much put-down based and some other interactions are borderline for what I'd like my kids to see. A pretty disturbing scene is how the bad guy treats the female interest or another scene where rats are introduced as a menacing creature. There were some lovely efforts to create a structured flowing story with some points of emphasis about friendship and sportsman-like behavior. In short, production value is wonderful and if your kids watch ninja turtle style stuff, I'm sure they'd love this one. 8/10 for those kids. 6/10 for everyone else.

A 3D animated sport-movie from Argentina. I do not hail from a football crazy country like South America or Europe, though I love the game. This movie was about foosball, a table football and its game characters.

This story follows when a professional footballer Grosso challenged his old enemy Amadeo to play football on a real turf after he was narrowly lost in a foosball game to him a long ago. Amadeo had no choice but to accept the challenge when his town is under a threat and to save his girlfriend. He's clueless about the preparation and game plan, but under some circumstances foosball characters come to life which offers support to build a team. And what comes next is the most excited game in the last quarter of the movie.

It was a terrific idea like 'Night at the Museum' and many other movies, but lost to a bad story and execution. Technically it had the upper hand than the entertainment side. I love the animation, especially the foosball characters, very nicely created. A movie that had all the qualities to be a fine short animation than a full length feature. Unfortunately, it was based on a short animation and failed to stretch its runtime with some good scenes.

It was obvious that the many parts of the movie were dull due to poor transition between the scenes. I think the screenwriter was clueless about what to add and not. A great achievement, according to the Argentinian animation industry. But the storyline and characters were more local cultural tradition than universal appeal which might influence audience from the other parts to draw out of the interest except children and foosball fans. The movie was not fun at all, it was pretty serious which should have not been. In my guess I believe adding more jokes should have saved the movie. At least the movie can be watched once with a lower expectation than that from Hollywood.

6.5/10

Starts off relatively strong but quickly devolves into boredom. Kids may enjoy it but I just found myself wishing it was over by the end, I watched the English dub so I don't know how the acting was in the original but it wasn't bad acting.

3/10: Decent visuals and a fairly good plot (on paper) can't make this much better than mediocre.

18th July. That was the premier date of Metegol in Argentina. I was expecting this date since days, months, even since the last year. I was determined to go to watch it immediately in the premier date, I was highly anticipating it, as I'm a fan of all the works by Campanella. I watched El Secreto De Sus Ojos, Luna De Avellaneda, El Hijo De La Novia, and the TV series Vientos De Agua. This I'm writing after returning watching Metegol in the cinema.

This is truly a masterpiece that will be remembered as a classic for years and years to come!!!! It is usual from this director, as all his films have become some of the finest and most successful both in the box-office and by critics alike. Campanella has done it again. He has proved that he is made of what Oscar winners are made of. He has proved how an animated film could also be done. He is pioneering and leaving a mark in the history of films. And he is making proud his own country, Argentina.

Metegol (or Foosball, as it will be called in English-speaking countries) makes you immerse in the rich and legendary folklore of football from Argentina. Stories, tales, legends, anecdotes, songs, matches, everything is freshly caught in the screen, in the atmosphere, in the characters. The little town, the bar, the corner where the foosball laid. Everything is familiar, and everything makes you remember the times when you played and breathed those places...

Without doubt the best of the film are the characters. And specially the characters dialogs. Everything they say is a reference to famous folklore cites and famous players sayings. The film is packed with subtle references to several history episodes, like when Grosso shouts his goal to the camera, he is shouting it like Maradona did one of his in the 1994 USA World Cup. When the town major leaves the town, he leaves in a helicopter, like in 2001 did the Argentine president De La Rua (and then the 2001 Argentine crisis was unleashed). And I could continue with more and more references and trivia, but I think it will be tastier if you find them for yourself ;) The other thing of Metegol which is the best, is its animation. OH GOD, THE ANIMATION. You would think that Tangled has set the bar in animation films, with the 260 millions it has cost to be made. Metegol was made with a much lower budget, just 20 millions of dollars. But you don't realize the difference of budgets. In fact you don't realize this is not a film made by Pixar nor Dreamworks. Metegol makes the eye-candy enthusiast rejoice in the vividness of the sequences, and makes the spectators hold tight in their seats as the action-paced scenes go on. In animation academies and schools, one of the classic tests you would have is to make an animation of a ball jumping. In Metegol you see the ball jumping, bouncing around the corners, passing between legs, hitting the body parts, kicked, flying, zig-zagging, being head-butted, being stopped by a player's foot, being handled in several football tricks, and so on. This film truly will be shown in animation academies for years and years to come, pointing out what animation can do. All things considerate, 20 millions of dollars make this film the single one most expensive in the entire Argentine film history, so in a certain way in this film Campanella truly is betting high.

In a trip to Euro-Disney I ate in a restaurant in the park, which was decorated with baseball photos and American imagery. On a wall, there was a picture that said "to understand the American way of thinking, you have to understand the sport of baseball". So watching Metegol could be a nice introduction to Argentine culture, folklore and philosophy. And I will rephrase that one saying I read in a picture on a wall, "to understand the Argentine way of thinking, you have to understand the sport of football". ;)

Sweet, funny, impeccable. Despite being based on a short story of the great Fontanarrosa, Campanella and Sacheri (the return of the duo) did a great job adapting it to a family film with meaning, but without losing its essence.

There are no many animated films from this side of the world which have become internationally popular. Campanella and his Oscar got someone else to ask for his latest work.

In recent years there has been an incredible advance in southamerican's animation industry. Campanella came to say "that's true, it's not your backward third-world mind".

Thanks for that.

This movie, to put it bluntly, is bad. I am not biased towards the people of Latin America, they have produced many cinematic masterpieces. This is just not one of them. The quality of this movie has nothing to do with my opinion of Latin America. I find it tasteless, dull, lacking humor or heart. The characters are badly designed, the living dolls are horrifying, the plot seems impossible. They might like soccer in Latin America, and that's great, but there are better ways to profess your love for something than to make a creepy cartoon like this. This cartoon is truly horrifying and I am glad that few people saw it. Two points, not one, because I think the story might be endearing with some improvements.

It was an amazing experience I didn't surpass in years. This great film is not perfect but it is brilliantly made, incredibly animated and brings a lot of fun in every single minute. The story is a simple one, we watched in lot of movies before. But it touches you in the heart, as it does every time you see common, weak people fight to the powerful ones, just armed with passion, dedication and deliver; the kind of sensations you feel in Rocky I, Real Steel, The Boxer or much other films. Besides, it is equipped with small, funny references here and there, as the Major flying out in a helicopter, like in the 2001 Argentinean crisis. If you liked Cars, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, etc you cannot lose this masterpiece.

It was needed a team of Argentinians and Spaniards to make an animation movie whose theme is football (soccer), their favourite game. And at right moment they did it because this movie is rather good in all aspects to begin with the story itself, a fight between force and justice. It has managed to give life in an excellent way to a group of those puppets of table football which are very common at public places where soccer is popular. The facial features and moves of all characters are very expressive and meaningful in terms of emotions and sentiments. Of course this is more a movie to be seen by adults than by children since is more dramatic than funny though not particularly heavy. It's the story of a bully who uses his force to humiliate the hero by all means because the latter once won a table football match to him and he wants the former's gf too. A goody movie pleasant to watch for the story and the lively images and scenes. And the sound track is unusually good with classical music by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner among others.

Although the plot is not pleasant, but the excellent pictures and innovative ideas still make the film impressed me deeply. Hope to spread it out. Just let those little guys play.

Review: OK, I know that this movie has a silly concept, but I really enjoyed it and I liked the funny characters. Its about a table football genius who beats the town bully at a game of table football and later on in life, the bully becomes a big time football player. Flash, the town bully, decides to take over the village, but Amadeo, the table football genius, has other ideas. After the bar with the table football game gets demolished, Amadeo saves the game from being destroyed and the little players in the game come alive, which sounds a bit weird but the movie becomes fun after that. Anyway, to get back his town, Amadeo challenges Flash to a real football match and he sets out to find a team to take on Flash's amazing football team. With the help of his table football team, Amadeo's unprofessional team fight against the football geniuses to save there town and gain respect. The big football match at the end was great and the animation looked brilliant. There's funny jokes throughout the movie, which are very well written, and the love story with Amadeo's long time sweet heart was a good addition to the great storyline. As I hadn't heard about the movie before, my expectations weren't that high, which is why I enjoyed it even more. The only downside was the English voices which were a bit tedious after a while but it's still a very well put together movie. Enjoyable! 

Round-Up: I'm really surprised that this movie wasn't a major hit, with the amount of people that watch football around the world. There were some decent names supplying there voice to the film, like John Leguizamo and Chazz Palminteri, but the movie still didn't get a big distribution budget, which is a right shame because it deserved it. There are a few innuendo's throughout the movie, which are put there for the football fans and there is a touch of adult humour which made it fun for all ages. Its good to see that the movie made its  money back, even though it didn't get the big Hollywood treatment, but I'm sure that it would have made more with the right people behind it. Anyway, it's definitely worth a watch if your a football fan and if you want a fun movie for the whole family.

Budget: $21million Worldwide Gross: $25million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their animation movies about a table football genius who takes on the town bully at a real game of football with a little help from his friends. 6/10

A few weeks ago, I decided to watch this spanish animation film for the first time. I've never watched until now, the only thing I could remember for this year is a scene which 4 "Green" players are finding their friends and also their "Red" enemies.

After seeing it completely, I can tell you that is a fantastic 3D film that is worth seeing alone, with your friends and also with your children. It doesn't matter how old you are. If you're a football/soccer fan, this will be your movie.

If you like soccer/football and animation, you could do a lot worse than watch this movie. Seriously though: this is really good story telling, even if you know where this movie will eventually end up (not entirely maybe, but the general story has a familiar feeling to it). And that is not a bad thing, if it is done well.

As you can imagine, it is done very well in this case. The animation might not be the best you've seen, but I liked the style (so watch images or the trailer to see if that floats your boat). If it does and you like your underdog stories served with just the right amount of comedy and drama, then go ahead, watch and enjoy

I took a chance with a seed of doubt given that all the posted reviews appeared to originate from the same country of movie's origin. Being both a soccer and animation fan I was hopeful that was written was somewhat truthful.

It's a story with a life lesson that as a coach I teach my players each year: everyone has something to contribute and it is the will and determination within you and your team, that can make all things possible on or off the field.

Let there be no doubt... this movie ROCKS! A funny, action packed, highly entertaining movie with an incredible rendering of visuals that will leave you rewinding scenes over and over again. The teardrop scene, if you look closely, was absolutely stunning in so many ways.

All soccer scenes, both on the foosball table and on the field, were meticulously drawn up with such creativity that only a true soccer aficionado could imagine. For the soccer field scenes, the footwork was so realistic that you can tell they researched and replicated the best players in the world.

Disregard the naysayers, this movie is of 100% 'Toy Story' quality both in terms of story and production. Watch it with your kids and enjoy the ride.

Gooolaaaasssoooo!

Well,i have seen worse movies,this one,at least,have a good animation and good jokes,but sadly bad movie.

I loved this movie... excellent animation... funny story... A great movie for soccer fans. You should not loose the opportunity to watch it. It has excellent quality animation (like Disney / Pixar), but with Latino humor. A lover of Futbolín has a big challenge, and has to do it for real to defend his hometown. A movie that has become the best selling tickets movie in Argentina. Directed by a Oscar winner "Juan Jose Campanella". PRODUCTION NOTES Metegol (Foosball). Argentina/ Spain, 2013. Written by: Juan José Campanella, Eduardo Scacheri and Gastón Gorali, based on Roberto Fontanarrosa's short story Memorias de un wing derecho. Directed by: Juan José Campanella. Voiceovers: Horacio Fontova, Pablo Rago, Fabian Gianola, Diego Ramos. Opening on 258 screens in Argentina on 35mm prints, 3D digital and 2D digital. Distributed by: UIP. NR. Running time: 100 minutes.

Having read the IMDb I am no longer sure of the movie's title but I'm calling it The Unbeatables because that was definitely the name on the print I saw. And I am pleased I saw it. The animation is just fabulous. Those great colors and funny details. The characters are lots of fun, the plot keeps moving, and the jokes are great and just keep coming. I especially liked the witty lines about football. No I'm not a great football fan but I loved this movie. It cleverly celebrates football and at the same time has a much needed pop at it. Campanella is a great film maker. If you have seen The Secret in their Eyes then you would not expect this. He has such range. The Unbeatables is a very good comedy.

I loved this movie and it was not because I am Argentinian, but because it was beautiful, funny, wonderful directed and each character has a unique personality.

Perhaps there are many users that write bad reviews because they are uncomfortable with the way it was made. Try to forget that is an Argentinan movie, that it only costs 20 million dollars, that it was directed by an Oscar winner or that the main plot is about football. Just go to the movie theater and make your own opinion, you will be surprised.

Important: If you see the movie with the original voices, it could be shocking at first because of our accent and the way we express ourselves. But I am confident when the movie is released in your country and in your language, you are going to give the rightful opinion that this movie deserves.