On 26 August, Tad and the Magic Lamp hits Spanish screens (released by Paramount Pictures Spain). The fourth entry in a batch of films led by an explorer who has already become a firm family favourite thanks to the previous features, it has been directed, like the earlier ones, by Enrique Gato, holder of six Goyas (five for either shorts or features about this character and another for Capture the Flag). The film arrives on the back of the success of the previous three, which have drawn eight million admissions and grossed over €47 million at the Spanish box office. What’s more, those three titles travelled to more than 40 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, topping $120 million at the worldwide box office. With all that in mind, we fired a few questions at its director.

Cineuropa: What will fans of the saga find in this new instalment, the fourth, that wasn’t in the others?
Enrique Gato: More action, more comedy and the most emotionally charged adventure we’ve ever created in the saga.

And what will someone who is approaching the character and his friends for the first time find?
A family adventure movie imbued with the spirit of the great adventure cinema of the 1980s and 1990s, which is enjoyable no matter your age.

Did you take the adult (and cinephile) audience into account when crafting the plot?
The whole Tad Stones universe offers a reading tailored to every age. Younger viewers get a hilarious, action-packed movie; older and more cinephile audiences will be able to read a more complex film, with homages to classic cinema and heaps of subplots that lead up to a climax with a huge emotional charge we hadn’t previously developed in the saga until now.

Beyond adventure and spectacle, what values does the film explore?
The movie is about fatherhood, which is tackled through comedy but also with all the seriousness warranted by a subject like this. It deals with those everyday situations you never quite know how to resolve, and how jealousy (in this case exhibited by the Momia character) can twist things to the point where the situation becomes unmanageable.

And what are the pillars of the humour we find here? Because there are some very contemporary jokes…
We draw on everything that can possibly fit into this adventure genre, and we keep a close eye on what’s moving on social media to make the film feel fresh and connected with young generations. But still, we never forget where we've come from and maintain that touch of classic comedy, the inspirations for which go all the way back to the cinema of Buster Keaton, one of the great pioneers of physical comedy.

Is the element of surprise another of its assets?
Absolutely. No one will be able to guess what awaits them at the end of the movie.

How are these adventures received outside Spain? Is its humour universal?
Right from the first instalment, Tad, the Lost Explorer, released in 2012, these films were conceived to travel the world. Both the humour and their entire visual language are universal, while always retaining traces of their Spanish origin.

Now the protagonist is a father. Will we keep seeing him grow up - even to become a grandfather?
I approach every Tad film as if it were the last, to guarantee the highest possible level of quality. You never know how far the character will go; I prefer to preserve the anticipation and discover it along the way.