Princes et Princesses

Princes & Princesses was interesting, because you don't see that kind of animated fare every day in this time of computer animated movie making all around.

Even if I don't know if this kind of story telling have the biggest fanbase around the world, I can say that I found it charming in the mix of a basic fairy-tale formula used with an outside premise tying the segments together in a funny way.

As an homage to the oldest surviving animated movie, the 1926 shadow puppet animated Adventures Of Prince Achmed, the magic is strong in this one with gorgeous art, atmospheric music and enthusiastic voice work even though the fanbase may be small.

When you watch an animation you usually don't expect such a thing as "Princes et Princesses". Basically this movie is a collection of tiny animations (six in total) whose plots align to those of ancient tales. So we're presented with several "topoi" (mainly involving princes and princesses), as well as cultural settings (ancient Egypt and Japan to name two). In the end, it is just like a transposition/adaption of good stories written in the past, all packed in one robust animation.

The overall idea being good, drawings look simple but original, and you may even say that a new style of making animations began with the assembling of this movie.

This is also going to be a great view for your kids, in case you have any.

What a fabulous idea! I would sit through hundreds of these stories to avoid sitting through another bad kid movie. This film was pleasing for everyone, kids and adults. The stories connect with each other, have cute morals, and cool animation. Although everything is silhouette, like shadow puppets, the creatures soon form faces in your mind. You get used to it. Everyone should have a chance to see this movie, catch it if you can. My favorite story was the last one, about what happens when a prince and a princess keep kissing. The one with the fig for Egyptian Goddess was good too.

As the Egyptian Queen eats her winter-ripe figs in Story Two (Le Garcon des Figues) she declares, in succession: "Exquisite! Delicious! Succulent!" These accolades should be taken out of context and applied directly to this film.

This is a MASTERPIECE! A man and woman use a fantastic machine to stitch them into the costumes of various ancient and future royalty. In each tale, love is hard-fought and dearly won. Brimming with joy, beauty, wisdom - every one of the six short stories is as good as the last. Created in a style of silhouette animation, it captures the essence of intricate shadow puppetry, lending a magic to the film that invites the viewer's imagination to join right in with the characters.

COLOR! SOUND! MOVEMENT! WOW!

If you have any love of animation, or of film, seek this one out. Don't miss it!

Interesting to see that these tales have the same format as Tales of the Night, and that they go back to a 1989 French tv show. And I thought the costume machine was supposed to be 3D printing!

Sebastian's Favorite: The Sorceress (he thought it was funny and liked the robot dragon that pooped missiles back at the attackers) Sienna's Favorite: The Fig (she liked the Ancient Egyptian theme and that the bad attendant got himself killed instead of the young man) Paul's Favorite: The Sorceress (She's not bad after all, in fact she's a brilliant inventor!)