(by Francesco Gallo).
The Invisible Boy: Second Generation - the second part of Gabriele Salvatores' fantasy saga - is premiering on January 4 in Italy.
The movie is big on special effects and super powers compared to the first installation, delving more into the fantasy genre.
Set in Rabat, Siberia and in Trieste, the film is a "novel with a fantasy inprint", Salvatores said.
The lead character (Ludovico Girardello), who is now 16, discovers his dark side and his ability to be mean.
He also discovers that he has a biological mother called Yelena (Ksenia Rappoport), a father Andrej (Ivan Franek) and a sister Natasha(Galatea Bellugi) all of whom have superpowers. Other characters with superpowers include Morfeo (Dario Cantarelli), Cinetica (Katia Mironova), Roccia (Mikolai Chroboczeck), Libellula (Matej Martinak) and Elastica (Yuliia Sobolo).
All these 'special' characters in Salvadores' saga, which will feature a third film, have one enemy: Igor Zavarov (Kristof Konrad), a rich Russian entrepreneur who imprisons all superheroes to capture the secret of their special powers.
Michele Silenzi, who is dealing with being a teen, has an opportunity to step in and challenge Zavarov as well as those who question the fate of superheroes.
The movie, which cost eight million euros, has a soundtrack by Federico De Robertis and visual effects by Victor Perez.
The novel by the same name written by the three screenwriters Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo, published by Salani, will be released at the beginning of January along with the graphic novel for Panini Comics.
"It is the first fantasy saga for adolescents in Italy", said Salvatores. "The difference with other films of this genre is that mine is more similar to Harry Potter with a character as protagonist who grows film after film.
"This time Michele discovers his darker, more melancholy side", he continued.
"The first 'Invisible Boy' was much more linear, simpler while this one is full of time-jumps".
The director added that his movie is also different from US fantasy blockbusters as American superheroes "usually save the world" while "mine sometimes use their superpowers in the wrong way".
"Certainly in this film the protagonist needs to start all over again after discovering that he has a biological mother", interpreted by Valeria Golino, said Salvatores.
"In the end he goes back to being an orphan together with his sister - ready for new adventures".
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