La reine soleil

This riveting cartoon animated work-of-art made in France and set in the fascinating ancient Egyptian era is clearly destined to entertain all those who take the time to settle down and watch it. Its high-quality animation that almost stands in for real actors mixed with a powerful impact on a cinema screen the portrayed magnificent aeon will seem far more wondrous than just the mindless chatter of a dull history teacher.

The story sets off on a rather unexciting note when a playful princess and an irritable prince are suddenly ordered by their royal old-fashioned parents to be wed. From the moment they meet they can both see that this union was not meant to be, but neither the prince's mother nor the princess' father the Pharaoh will see reason. That night the ever-determined princess flees her kingdom and embarks on an epic journey to the city of Thebes in the hope of finding her mother the Queen who was driven away by the Pharaoh's infuriating obsession with the god of the sun Aten. The palace guards mistake her flight for a kidnapping engineered by the prince and so he has no choice but to join her.

Partway through their valiant quest they discover with icy terror that a band of terrorists, priests and worshippers of forbidden gods are plotting to brutally overthrow the Pharaoh and take over the kingdom. So with no hope of warning the Pharaoh the quarrelling couple must somehow cooperate and stop the traitors themselves.

This is an incredibly unpredictable and truly stupendous fun ride with a highly engaging storyline stringing the numerous and breathtaking action sequences together.

The theme of a rebelling young child against their father is as old as the world itself. It has been done and re-done in numerous movies and animations. This particular story, being set in Egypt, had the potential of showing some very original aspects, if - in its setting, character design, soundtrack, general presentation and scenes - wasn't a complete rip-off of Dreamworks' "The Prince of Egypt". And it's not the writer of "La reine soleil" - Christian Jacq's fault. It's the fault of the people who decided to make a movie out of it, had however no idea how to successfully present it on screen, and ultimately decided to copy everything from an Oscar-winning animation.

Most viewers don't mind. I do. Because why put up with an imitation, when you can afford the original?

I am also particularly surprised that this thing comes from France and Belgium of all places, since both of the countries are known worldwide for their original comic books and are in fact able to offer unique character design.

So, to all people who haven't yet watched "La reine soleil", I have two things to say:

First, if you want to see something original, I highly recommend the Franco-Belgian "Kirikou et la sorcière", "Une vie de chat", "Un monstre à Paris"; the Irish "Song of the sea" and "The secret of Kells"; the Japanese "Spirited Away". All of them are available in English as well as multiple other languages.

Second, watch "The Prince of Egypt". As it always happens in life, the original is infinitely better than its copy.

This was the first movie that really got me into History at the age of 5. The animation is unique and the movie it self has a lot of historical references (as it should) It's a really good family movie to watch and especially if you really want your children to know or make them interested in different time periods I highly recommend it. The film does a really good job about explaining the locations that some are no longer with us because they are lost with the sand. And I have to say I loved the character development in this movie. Each of them has their own special features about their personality that makes them stand out and memorable which is missing in these days of animated movies. It's not cringe or the characters are not trying too hard to be likeable or funny. You also have to be really careful with the dialogue when you're watching, because they really say a lot, and a lot (I really mean it) so that you will get to know how things were working in Egypt.

This is a French animation about the turbulent period of Egyptian history during the rule of the pharaoh Akhenaten (14 century BC), who is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian monotheism in favor of worship of a single Sun god Aten. The story is based on a novel of french writer and archaeologist Christian Jacq. Although the story is aimed at young viewers (from age 7 and above), it pays unusual for such cartoons attention to traditions and culture of ancient Egypt. While it may not be 100% accurate, it manages to convey the spirit of this old civilization without being didactic and boring. The animation is also very well done, it has its own original style (it somewhat resembles the vector graphics of a computer game "Another World"). The art of the main characters and the backgrounds are superb, the weaker point could be the use of computer to bring these to life in some scenes.

Overall it is a rare and excellent cartoon for kids and their parents, for those who are interested in ancient history, 8/10