Thanks for the memories!

Overrated

Lack of good storyline.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I found the first fifteen minutes or so of this movie painful to watch; flat clunky animation of not much happening set against clumsy 3D backgrounds. I have nothing against slow, thoughtful movies, or less-than-state-of-the-art animation. But this was lacking any kind of spark. There was no life in it. It was like watching someone else wandering around in Second Life doing nothing in particular. The character of the father was particularly awful (the flat, "I am delivering a line" voice-over in the English version didn't help - not that the actor could have really done anything with the lines he was given, they were real: "I am going to advance the plot now!" stuff.) He wasn't even a TWO dimensional character. However, after this overly long set up, and once the action moves to the unnamed Arabian country, the movie picks up and becomes a lot more interesting, both visually and narratively and by the end, though I was not entirely blown away (the protracted 'dilemma' ending was far too long) I was happily satisfied. But then I'm not really the target audience. So, over to the target audience....My daughter Holly (aged 7) says: "I thought this film was really good when Azur had two keys and threw them into the two cavern door when they needed it. It was a bit scary when he didn't have the key for the slashing irons but his brother did and he used it. It was fun. The wee girl as the princess was good. It was one of the most enjoyable movies I've ever watched!"

'Azur & Asmar' is a beautifully told story of two young boys, one French,the other Arab,growing up in North Africa years ago,with the same dream of finding the Princess Djinn. When the two boys grow older, the Father of the young French boy takes his young son away from his life long friend. The young Frenchman finds himself on a desert island (or so he thinks),where he acts the part of a blind wandering beggar. Along the way,he befriends a rather crass Englishman (also a beggar),and manages to re-connect with his past (I won't spoil the rest of the plot for you). This is yet,another fine example of 3D CGI animation,done to perfection. Michel Ocelot writes & directs this charming little fairy tale,which also teaches young children about just how evil racism really is & how we should,as a people,live as one. Tagged a PG rating by the MPAA,this film does contain a few scary moments that could be a bit frightening to very young children,as well as some unpleasant moments of racism

This animation fairy-tale is parable on tolerance between races, creeds and classes. It is a useful antidote to mundane everyday life in which those distinctions are very much alive. The message of the movie is delivered in a rather crude way and not through indirect suggestion.It is visually beautiful but the copy I saw in Greece did not have subtitles for the lines that were delivered in Arab dialect- I do not know whether this was a deliberate policy or it just happened in the copy I saw. Nevertheless it is a fine movie with a message for male friendship and co-operation between different people even when they are different in colour, creed and class. I recommend it for younger audiences primarily but also for older people although I don't think that a movie will make them change their mind on such issues. The arabic setting is picturesque and the movie is difficult to situate chronologically since the white boy receives the training of a medieval to post-medieval gentleman while the ship he uses is more of the age of great discoveries. The clothes of the Arabs I can not locate in history since my knowledge of costumes in Arab lands is inadequate.But the point is not historical veracity but the message of tolerance which is a child of European Enlightment one would say although this is a very qualified statement regarding the situation of the natives in European colonies. But the Ottoman Empire a supposed multicultural state practiced discrimination towards Jews and Christians, the infidels or jimmies but not on the scale of Catholic Spain for example. I would say that the movie expresses a wish and not a concrete historical reality during which the most that different people could hope for was mutual indifference. But it is a noble a commendable dream, better than other dreams that attempted to materialize as historical realities-as the Nazi dream of the thousand year era of Aryan supremacy.A well-intentioned movie.

I was moved to tears by this simple yet so aesthetically pleasing fairy tale. The moral of the story is not layered too thickly on top, but still there's no way round it: this is about respect, tolerance, prejudice and open-mindedness. The oriental influence in style, music,language........is wonderfully inspiring and is a very much needed anti-dote for the negative light in which the Mediterranean cultures are usually presented. Beautiful music (and silence!); splashes of color; a very tactile movie. Absolutely a favorite for me and my children!