very weak, unfortunately

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This movie was a rather fascinating present I received last year from my brother. Since today was a particularly droll day, we decided to watch The Prophet at his request. What followed was a very stereotypically fraternal dual reaction to it. But that isn't important, so let's get on to the good items. The story is, of course, adapted from Khalil Gibran's identically named fable compilation, though since it focuses more on specific Prophet fables than others, it is rather disadvantaged and disappointing as a movie plot. If the movie was in production longer, then surely it could have been possible to work in other chapters, as with only some of the 26, it doesn't have full potential. The characters are better than the story, as they translate better into a 1:24 movie better than each fable (or reference to) does. Of course, they did take much- needed time to introduce characters not from the source, but given how Almustafa was really the sole important shared character in the collection, it really was a great idea. Not to mention, I am actually somewhat jealous of Almitra's ability to parkour, which proves important in many scenes. As a downside, though, most of the other characters are forgettable, and in some cases not when they are meant to be. However, potentially the biggest saving grace in all of animation comes in this film's... well, animation. I was dazzled, concerned, scared, mystified, and hypnotized due to the animation, which undergoes several different styles. All of them, however, can be summed up as graceful and absolutely successful in depicting everything else. To sum up, expect from this movie a bit like what you'd expect from The Red Turtle: fantastic animation but not a lot of other notable substance. By all means, do check it out if you cannot deny curiosity.

In terms of film, there is a difference between an anthology and a collective set of work. Trick r Treat and The Twilight Zone: The Movie are anthology movies as each have a story is somewhat connected to the next and have reoccurring characters that might meet up. Fantasia is the prime example of a series of collected works. The same team may have been behind all the shorts, but they weren't meant to be published as a flowing set. Nothing about Fantasia's stories would confuse people into thinking that "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Nutcracker Suite" would be connected. Each story of Fantasia is it's own thing and is simply within the film because the filmmaker has chosen to put it in there.One reason we don't see a lot of collective works set to one film is that a lot of people come to a movie to escape into one long story. That's not to say that there are people that like a set of short stories, but it's been proved by the studio system that a mainstream audience wants to see safer content. While you might find short film series' in a film festival, The Prophet is a collected work of artistic expression.In a village within an unnamed middle eastern country, young speechless Almitra (played by Quvenzhané Wallis) is considered a trouble maker by her village as she is a compulsive thief and can make bird noises that allow her to communicate with seagulls. Her mother Kamila (played by Salma Hayek) tries to keep her under control now that she is a single mother (the fathers death is said to be the cause of Almitra loosing her speech) and working at a political prison. Finding school uninteresting, Almitra follows her mother to work and finds someone special behind a gate.She finds an older but kind man Mustafa (played by Liam Neeson) who is an artist and a writer who has spent seven years under political arrest for writing controversial content that detest's the government. Mustafa and Almitra bond as the latter expresses his thoughts on life, love and freedom, as shown by segmented shorts that are usually just artsy expression of his essays. Two guardsmen (played by Alfred Molina and john Krasinski) are responsible for taking him to a ship that can return the artist to his home country, but the people may not be ready for him to leave.Part of me really wanted to love The Prophet as it's rare to see a hand drawn animated movie and it really has passion for the essays as written by Lebenon artist Kahlil Gibran. The shorts are well done and look beautiful. It almost felt like that I was watching Fantasia again. But there's a problem; the movie tries to put them into a narrative.I have nothing against this idea, but the movie's perspective is through the child and not the artist. This means that the story is simple and has been created as an attempt to be family entertainment. The content is tame, but I would think that most kids would find much of the artistic expression really boring. What's weird is that I have nothing wrong with the actual story of a girl bonding with the artist and a village coming together as one. The voice acting is great and the animation looks nice. When the main narrative and the shorts are separated, their both magnificent. But when put together, it's tone is inconsistent, never finding a ground that can attract both children and adults. Given I'm conflicted, I'll give this four collected works of Kahlil Gibran out of five purely on an artistic level. As inconsistent as the setting is, I still recommend the movie simple for it's animation. I'd say only see this if you really want to see another rare hand drawn movie.

I bought the ticket for this movie with very low expectations, but God was I wrong!Soon after the opening scene, I realized that this was no ordinary movie. It's different from any other I've seen... and in so many ways: the mind-blowing messages; the brilliant blending of poetry, music, painting, and animation; and the way it propels one's imagination up to an entirely new level, all the time staying true to the soul of Khalil Gibran's artistic genius.I highly recommend this exceptional movie to everyone who loves life and appreciates art in all its forms. Being a sensual mind opener, this masterpiece succeeds at making the viewer not only enjoy it, but enjoy existence as a whole too.Hats off to Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Yared, and of course Roger Allers.If you are tired of all the pretentious movies out there, don't miss out on this simple one. After all, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, right?9/10 (being the 'stingy with the grades' reviewer that I am)

It's difficult to simply judge the film without passing some judgment on the content of Gibran's poetry, which, in the context of the film, sounds even more like self-help advice. So those who like spiritualism, practical philosophy, and one man's interesting (then and still now) take on the world will probably find the content pretty awesome. For the rest of us, as I said, at times, it sounds a bit like self-help stuff, or new age stuff that is not new at all. Interestingly, a lot of the stuff about labor and work sounded very much like the stuff the Soviets would love (don't know if he was popular in the USSR).The film attempts to tell the story of Mustafa, who is been on house arrest for seven years and is finally being released (deported back to his own country). The details of how he came to be in this other country are fuzzy, but it is clear that he is a poet, painter, and philosopher, and his ideologies have landed him in this bind. Mustafa befriends Almitra, who has stopped speaking since her father died a year ago. Almitra's mom does the housework for Mustafa under the (clumsy) watch of Halim (or Halil?) Everyone loves Mustafa. Townsfolk loves him. The cleaning lady and the kid love him. Even the guard loves him. There is a very clear distinction between good and evil here, which will appeal to younger children, and maybe not so much to the older crowd. So Mustafa is taken through the town (mistake!) to the boat that is supposed to take him back, but needless to say, things don't turn out that way at all. There is some strong imagery here (complete with a firing squad, but we only hear them fire). I think most of the content is out of reach of most younger children. The stuff about love and life, about how parents do not own their children got through to the kids who were watching around me in the theater. I was surprised that even the youngest did not fall asleep, as some parts were just Mustafa speaking about stuff. I believe this s due to the amazing animation work by many great artists. If Gibran's work does not interest you at all, I still would say this is a must see, if you like animation art. There's great stuff here. I dare say something for every taste and preference in terms of animation art.All in all, it was a great film to see on the big screen. Animation was top notch and engaging (as the kids around me proved it). The story involving Almitra also appealed to the children, i think, though not to me as much. Mustafa's story is a classic case of denial of and persecution of freedom of speech; it is good to see something like this being made.