Let’s Play with Monica and Friends

Let’s Play with Monica and Friends is a 3D preschool animated series that reimagines Brazil’s most beloved group of characters at the very beginning of their childhood journey. Monica, Jimmy Five, Maggy, Smudge and Milena are four-year-old friends discovering the world through games, experiments, music and everyday adventures.

Created for young audiences, the series transforms the universe of Monica and Friends into a playful, colorful and emotionally accessible experience. Each episode begins with a simple childhood situation and turns it into a story about friendship, imagination, cooperation and growing up together.

For generations, Monica and Friends has been part of Brazilian culture. With Let’s Play with Monica and Friends, this iconic universe was reimagined for preschool audiences, presenting the characters in a younger version while preserving the emotional connection that made them so familiar to families across the country.

The series marks a special moment in the franchise’s audiovisual history: the first 3D animated version of Monica and Friends, designed specifically for early childhood. This new format allowed the characters to reach young viewers through a softer visual language, gentle comedy and stories built around the discoveries of being four years old.

The series follows Monica, Jimmy Five, Maggy, Smudge and Milena as they spend their days playing, imagining and learning together. Their adventures take place through games, experiments, music and small conflicts that reflect the emotional universe of preschool children.

A key element of the show is Samson, Monica’s inseparable blue rabbit. In this version, Samson takes on a special role: he observes the children, comments on their adventures and speaks directly to the audience, helping guide the emotional reading of each episode. This gives the series a warm and interactive tone, inviting children to participate in the story rather than only watch it.

Adapting Monica and Friends into 3D meant translating one of Brazil’s most recognizable visual universes into a new production language. The challenge was not only technical, but also cultural: the characters needed to feel fresh and suitable for preschool audiences, while still being instantly recognizable to generations of fans.

Hype’s animation work helped bring this new version to life through expressive character performance, soft visual appeal and a production style designed for warmth, clarity and charm. The 3D approach gave the characters a tactile and toy-like presence, reinforcing the idea of a playful world seen from the perspective of early childhood.

The visual development of Let’s Play with Monica and Friends focused on creating a world that felt bright, safe and inviting. The characters were designed to support preschool storytelling, with rounded shapes, readable silhouettes and expressive faces that could communicate emotions clearly to young viewers.

Public production material also highlights the importance of look development, lighting, rendering and texturing in shaping the final image of the series. These stages helped define the soft, polished and colorful look that makes the show feel both modern and emotionally close to its audience.

Let’s Play with Monica and Friends was produced by Mauricio de Sousa Produções, with animation by Hype Animation, sound by Ultrassom Music Ideas, and co-production with Giga Gloob, Gloobinho and Globoplay. The series was directed by Fabiano Pandolfi and developed as a preschool 3D animated project for the Monica and Friends universe.

This collaboration brought together one of Brazil’s most iconic IP holders, a major children’s entertainment platform and Hype’s experience in 3D animation production. The result was a project that honored the legacy of Mauricio de Sousa’s characters while opening a new visual and narrative path for the franchise.

Let’s Play with Monica and Friends received major industry recognition by winning Best Brazilian Animation Series at the 22nd Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro. The award recognized the first season in the category of Brazilian animated series for pay TV and OTT.

For Hype, the project became a milestone: a chance to contribute to a historic Brazilian franchise, help bring its first 3D preschool version to life, and take part in a production recognized by one of the country’s most important audiovisual awards