Dad Wanted: A failed attempt at a coming of age movie  

Netflix’s newest Mexican original movie Dad Wanted, aka Se Busca Papa, is a family film that deals with real life issues along with adding in some comedy. It tells the story of a tween girl, Blanca (Natalie Coronado), who dreams of becoming a BMX rider.

Her mother, Fernanda (Silvia Navarro), however, feels her dreams are risky and unacceptable to pursue because her father died in a bike accident. She has not come to terms with how her husband died, so she forbids Blanca from pursuing her dreams to try and protect her from getting injured.

Meanwhile, we have Alberto, a taxi cab driver who Blanca convinced to play as her “father” so she can enter the upcoming BMX competition since her mom didn’t want to go through with it. He agrees to help her, and they embark on a journey of helping her win the competition.

This movie was not good. It tried approaching certain topics, but it was not well-developed at all and the plot was all over the place and confusing at times. It was a boring and predictable watch. I didn’t like anything about this and I feel the target audience is much younger than teens.

It is not a complete waste. If you have younger siblings or maybe want to have a noncommittal family movie night, I would actually recommend this.