Koati (film)

Koati
U.S theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rodrigo Perez-Castro
Written by	Ligiah Villalobos Alan Resnick
Story by	Anabella Sosa-Dovarganes Rodrigo Perez-Castro Ligiah Villalobos
Produced by	Anabella Sosa-Dovarganes Melissa Escobar Jose Nacif Peter Denomme María Pagán
Starring	Sofía Vergara Rafael Dovarganes Evaluna Montaner Eduardo Franco Joe Manganiello Michele Lepe Karol G
Edited by	Javier Escobar
Music by	Julio Reyes Copello
Production companies	Upstairs Animation Los Hijos de Jack Latin We Timeless Films
Distributed by	Spanglish Movies Maya Releasing (United States)
Release date	October 15, 2021 (2021-10-15) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes[1]
Countries	Mexico United States[2]
Languages	English Spanish
Box office	$1.7 million[3]

Koati is a hand-drawn animated adventure comedy film directed by Rodrigo Perez-Castro and produced by Upstairs Animation, Los Hijos de Jack, and Latin We.^[4] It was released in theaters on October 15, 2021.^[5] Executive produced by and starring Sofía Vergara, Koati tells a story of adventure, environmental awareness, and cultural pride.^[6] The film is produced simultaneously in both English and Spanish.^[7]

In the fictional rainforest world of Xo: Nachi, a free-spirited coati (voiced by Rafael Dovarganes), goes on adventures with his only friend, Pako, a hyperactive glass frog (voiced by Eduardo Franco). The two Of them, countlessly, annoyed, the jungle animals, and the old panther Jaguar named Blam. Nachi Is proved to be two different from the jungle animals, as Blam protects every jungle animals who looks up to him. They need to go to the everlasting world That never falls apart, but the animals dismissed as a myth. However, after seeing a special green rock that leads to the land with lush grass, fresh food, and no worries, Nachi and Pako finally convinces the animals to go.

On the journey, Navhi accidentally causes a stampede full of elephants that nearly step on a baby panther, but Blam rescues him, Disgracing Nachi In front of the animals. While the animals find a place to sleep for the night, Pako follows a butterfly named Xochi, Much to his displeasure. Nachi, Who is sleeping with Blam, Awakens to find him missing and goes after him. He later catches up to him at muddy spot where he plays in a large mud puddle. As the two argue about getting back before the animals get worried, they find themselves cornered by a giant lion named wrecker. They run for their lives and escape into a thorn, hedge, but the giant line easily finds them after Nachi accidentally throws a rock in self-defense. Just as they are about to become lion food, they Are saved by blam, who knocks out the lion, only to get bitten and thrown against the wall. He manages to defeat him by making him fall. As an earthquake begins, the animals run to safety nearby, but a field mouse and the baby jaguar get their tails stuck. Not wanting to see them gone from the earthquake, Blam takes them to safety, but gets his tail stuck, and several rocks fall on him, Including a tree. That night, after the earthquake, Nachi finds Blam Hurt deeply from the earthquake and the wounds he received from the lion, and tries to convince him that he will be all right from finding legendary flower, fire petals, only for Balam to grow weaker. The animals find him Being carried by Nachi and he dies, Much to everyone’s grief.

After a funeral honoring Blam, Nachi, Feeling responsible for having caused Blam’s death, And now the leader of the animals, decides to go find the lush valley himself. But before he goes, Xochi, The same butterfly from last night, tells them that together, they have to embark on a mission to stop the nefarious coral snake Zaina (voiced by Sofía Vergara) from destroying their homeland. Pako Refuses to go with him, but after a encounter with several poison, dart frogs, he reluctantly decides to go With him. Along the way, the characters learn lessons about unity, resilience, and the importance of protecting their ecosystem.

During the journey, Nachi Encounters of human camp and makes friends with a snake charmer. However, Paco falls into the snake charmer basket and is attacked by a snake, which turns out to being Zaina. Nachi saves him and Xochi, And they find a place to rest for the night. The next morning, Xochi finds The unconscious lion wrecker and starts running into him, waking him up. They are chased by wrecker and Pako Pushes a giant boulder, causing the lion to fall into the lake. Nachi gets upset at Pako and Xocji for wasting time, Only to accidentally walk into some quicksand and tar. He nearly sinks, only to luckily be saved by Pako rallying some scarlet macaws to pull him to safety. Afterwards, they encounter a berry bush, but while feasting on the berries, Nachi learns They are poisonous And ends up going crazy, losing consciousness. He awakens with a headache, but nonetheless fine.

Afte J Daring misadventures, including Paco, accidentally annoying Zaina, when trying to dance with Xochi and Nachi Making friends with the humans at the human camp, they finally find the lush valley. However, Nachi gets into a fight with Pako and Xochi about going to inform the animals, causing them to go separate ways. Soon, Xochi Fall into a tar pit When going the wrong way and Paco and speedy, a friendly turtle that he had met, end up getting stuck on a stone covered in lava. Nachi goes To rescue them, pushing a stone and using it to travel the lava without looking down, getting them to safety on the other side. They go to reach Xochi, Who is still struggling in the tar and is halfway in. Paco Jumps in to save from when he sinks while Nachi grabs onto a branch to help the friendly turtle. However, they all end up, stuck in the tar and begins sinking, only to come out through a tunnel on the other side After a couple of long, tense seconds. Zaina Turns out to have save them, but she captures them and takes them to her lair.

Zaina reveals that she was the one who made the wrong way, and the lion recorder was her assistant. However, however, after she was kicked out of the jungle by blam After breaking a huge chunk of the volcano which caused the lava out to flow into the animals land, she began to grow evil. She now has the animals captive with her, and banishes Nachi away to the wastelands. Bachi Feels guilty for having led them along on a fruitless journey, only to be comforted by Xochi, who says to him that it doesn’t just come from him, it’s the power that comes from within.

With this encouragement, Nachi returns and fight Zaina, freeing the animals. They end up causing a mudslide and landslide which buries both of them. Paco, now having a change of heart, manages to dig Nachi out, but Zaina breaks free out of the mud and both of them get trapped as a volcano erupts. Nachi tricks Zaina And to man just to pull himself up, and they escape into the cave as they are buried inside of it.

The animals finally make it to the lush valley after migrating throughout the long cave and find it is still lush as before. Nachi is credited as the hero, Paco Adopt the speedy turtle and uses him for whenever he needs to go, Xochi Now can fly properly, and Nachi Is now credited as the hero.^[6]

• Sofía Vergara as Zaina the Coral Snake
• Rafael Dovarganes as Nachi the Coati and Seth Jr. the Fly
• Evaluna Montaner as Xochi the Monarch Butterfly
• Eduardo Franco as Pako the Glass Frog
• Joe Manganiello as Balam the Black Jaguar
• Michele Lepe as Amaya the Quetzal
• Karol G as Chima the Porcupine
• De la Ghetto as Jithu the Anaconda
• Manolo Gonzalez Vergara as Calli the Jabiru Stork
• Matías Dovarganes as Xuxu the Axolotl
• Peter Baker as Cocopa the Armadillo and Whiskers the Emperor Tamarin
• Jack Rodriguez as Mati the Ocelot Cub and Coco the Caiman
• Antonella Balaguer as Itzel the Arrau Turtle
• Marcelina Balaguer as Camilla the Hummingbird
• Luis Carlos Balaguer as Mario the Tree Rat
• Matteo Markus Bok as Igu the Iguana
• Luca Pimiento as Manu the Northern Tamandua and Juaco the Spider Monkey
• Matthew Windey as Bumbaa the Tortoise
• Regina Carrot as Regi the Northern Tamandua, Manu's mother
• Alexander "Paisa" Ospina as Snake Squad the army of snakes
• Agustina Palma as Vitoriana the Toucan
• Salome Rodríguez as Baby Salome the Sloth
• Susana Hurtado as Lola La Mariposa the Monarch Butterfly
• Claudia Bahamon as Clau the Tapir, Lini's mother
• Lina M. Caceres as Lini the Tapir
• Melissa Escobar as Mela the Sloth, Baby Salome's mother and additional voice
• Mari Carmen Peralta Burelo as Kati the Spider Monkey, Felix, Emi and Juaco's mother and additional voice
• Liliana Moyano as Vale the Ocelot, Mati's mother
• Bianki, Little Vale and Hannah Steinbaum Dubovy as Baby Birds
• Ricardo Tinoco as Felix the Spider Monkey and Hallucinogen Frog #3
• Paloma Pimiento as Emi the Spider Monkey
• Juan Pablo Jaramillo as Igulon the Iguana
• Juana Martínez as Iguanita the Iguana
• Javier Escobar as Toad King and additional voice
• Manuela Gomez as Hallucinogen Frogs #1 and additional voice
• Luis Carlos Balaguer as Hallucinogen Frogs #2
• Anabella Sosa-Dovarganes as Pakita the Glass Frog, Pako's mother
• Wally Rodriguez as Drilo the Caiman and Jose the old Howler Monkey
• Carlos Sosa as Marcos the Howler Monkey and additional voice
• Josefina Sosa as Finita the old Monarch Butterfly and additional voice
• Michelle Vargas, Lenny, Chencha, Miguel Burelo, Miguel De Jesus Burelo, Angel Mario Burelo, Sebastian Burelo, Juan Jose Burelo, Gabriela Ochoa, Judith Noguera, and Luis Carreño as additional voices

Koati is the first animated feature film produced by Upstairs Animation. The production presents a primarily Latin American creative team, with key contributors from various countries in the region, including Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Argentina. Director Rodrigo Perez-Castro, known for his work on Ferdinand and Rio 2, envisioned a film that would pay homage to Latin America's natural beauty while rekindling the nostalgic charm of traditional 2D animation.^[6]

The animation was created by Toon City Animation, a studio with a long history of collaboration with Disney. According to Perez-Castro, the team drew inspiration from classics like The Little Mermaid and Bambi, aiming to create a visually rich and naturalistic portrayal of the animal kingdom.^[6]

Latin singer Marc Anthony was the executive musical producer.^[8][4]

The TV series, Koati: Animated Series, was announced in 2022 and is also to be voiced by Sofía Vergara.^[7]

• Official website
• Koati at IMDb
• Koati at Box Office Mojo
• Koati at Rotten Tomatoes