A Sloth Story (2025) Movie Review: A well-intentioned but conventional take on bridging the gaps between the traditional and the modern

Sloths are having their moment right now. After “Zootopia” offered us one of the funniest moments to feature sloths on celluloid – a moment that propelled them into pop-culture-meme-land – the tired, boring, and super-slow creatures have found their representation in colorful tales ever since. Tania Vincent and Ricard Cussó’s “A Sloth Story” which gleefully and secretly also works as a tale of Latinx representation, features the loveable animals as the lead in a zany, albeit conventional take on bridging the gaps between the traditional and the modern.

The POV here is a family of four – Papa Luis (Benjamin Gorrono), Mumma Gabriella (Olivia Vasquez), older brother Mani (Facundo Hache Herrera), and Laura (Teo Vergara) – who becomes our leeway into the story. The family lives blissfully in a small village where they run a restaurant and revel in the slow life. The family recipe book is a beloved gem that Gabriella owns and her customers understand the slow-living and good food connection. Laura, however, is the polar opposite of what a sloth should be.

She is this hyperactive ball of energy that clumsily rushes through her day, wishes every chance she gets to somehow move to Sanctuary City and take a shot at the fast-paced life that she has been constantly bombarded and advertised about by her hero – Dotti Pace (Leslie Jones), a cheetah who seems to run one of the most popular fast-food joints in the city. Consequently, and tragically, Laura’s wish comes true when their restaurant is destroyed in a huge storm, forcing the family to take the battered food truck they own to settle down in the maximum city.

Laura, as a kid, would want to do kids’ stuff. Making new friends and getting to understand a super-fast game like Cricket would become a good talking point for her as a person. However, when she is unable to get out of the dwindling nature of her family’s food business in the city, she decides to take the city’s fast route. Her intentions are good but her decision to go one step ahead to rid herself of the work that she needs to do for her family makes her take a dangerous step that affects everything.

Now, I see “A Sloth Story” as a story about growth. Since it follows Laura, who is a complete 360 version of her own family, we can also denote it as a film about identity. What and who are you if your entire existence is defined by your speed, and you don’t partake in it? This tale tires itself again and again by hitting us with a narrative about the family unit staying together, somehow shaming Laura for raising her wings and trying to fly. However, it also carefully treads that line by speaking of how traditional values and nostalgia need to be taken only as a standpoint and not how you write the entire book.

By drawing the differences between Laura and Gabriella – the representation of two generations of women, “The Sloth Story” is trying to tell us that the gaps between the two can only be filled by coming down and meeting halfway. Directors Tania Vincent and Ricard Cussó are able to tell a tale that is grounded in Latinx culture while also doubling down on the universality of the story.

Part of the now-blooming franchise “The Tales from Sanctuary City,” “A Sloth Story” is a conventional coming-of-age tale. There are oodles of wise takeaways for young kids, although adults will feel the heat of watching something that is just an overstimulating rush of sound and color. Some of the character work is weak, and the animation design can come off as rushed, but overall, it is a fairly enjoyable, albeit forgettable experience.