Produced by Ánima Estudios, the film was released in Mexico on October 21, 2011, grossing $55.4 million pesos.
While waiting for Kika to come back from a house that is far down the street, Beto spots an eerie figure going in her direction.
In order to save his sister, he calls out the ghost's name, "La Llorona"; she hears and precedes to chase after him.
The companions are Leo San Juan, a young boy, Don Andres, an old knight (similar to Don Quijote), Alebrije, a fire-breathing colorful dragon-like creature and Moribunda and Finado, two skeleton-like kids resembling calaveras (sugar skulls).
They summon a ghost friend Teodora, who has helped them in previous adventures, but she disappears right before the storm after teasing Leo.
Kika sees the damaged balloon he's fallen from heading toward La Isla de las Muñecas (Dolls' Island).
Days later, though, Ollin and Tonatiuh were found dead near a channel, possibly due to drowning and their bodies must have washed up onshore.
San Juan leaves Kika's house to find his friends and figures out the mystery of where Beto and the other kidnapped kids are with help of Padre Tello's journal.
After a lot of screaming, he is rescued from the puppets by Alebrije, who was all covered in green slime after falling in the lake and mistaken for a monster.
Leo San Juan asks Teodora to help him seek La Llorona and distract her while he looks for the old church where Yoltzin's kids were buried.
La Llorona grabs Leo and starts taking his soul, causing him to pass out, then captures his friends by animating vines that had overtaken the sunken church.
Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media gave it 3 out of 5 stars, and wrote, "Filled with wonderfully inventive animation, witty dialogue, and rich characterizations, La Leyenda de La Llorona is a treat for kids who read well enough to manage the subtitles, and who won't be upset by the legend of a dead woman who believes she is responsible for the death of her young children.
There are scares, laughs, and, underlying all, a soothing premise -- that a mother's love is 'a boundless and most precious gift protecting children in this world and the next.'