Le roi et l'oiseau

I wasn't partly familiar with it's existence till recently. But it's worth discovering over off the internet.

The King and the Mockingbird is a little hard to understand without knowing any French. I don't know any so I just watched it and see what I can make out of the story by the actions and scenes. Takes place in a serial kingdom utopia. Where lived a king who was passionate with his image and power over people. Also in the kingdom lived a Mockingbird who watches over his kids and is a real nuisance to the King. As well as a young couple who magically came to life from the King's art gallery.

The rest of the story is bazaar and fantastic at the same time. The movie is very hard to find in R1 DVDs. Not as well known as "Triplets of Belleville" another great French movie. But there's yet to be a Special Edition that would include English translation for all English speaking countries to enjoy this masterpiece. Since the French do have their small share of animation producing.

The animation is old quality, because it began production as far back as the 40s. The likeness is a combination of Max Flechier/early Disney animation. And was created by a French animator, who was known as the Disney of France. I haven't seen any of his other ones. But this one here is his most well known work over in Europe.

So if you ever come across this title be sure to see it if you like foreign animation.

I saw The King and the Bird ~25 years ago in the Soviet Union, professionally translated and dubbed. The movie, ironically, fits very well the Soviet ideology (the poor get explored by the rich, the rich living in sky-scraper-like palaces etc). Apparently the movie is not available in the US with English subtitles. The movie fascinated me as a ~7 year old, but also disturbed me quite profoundly. After I watched it again in 2010 I have realized that I remember ~50% of the movie quite literally 25 years later. Some scenes still don't make sense to me, just like the didn't back in the early 80s, e.g. the king from the painting getting rid of the real king 15 min into the movie and taking over the rest of the show. Some parts of the story and some scenes in the animation itself could have more attention to detail, they stand out. E.g. the lion scene is showing very abstract lions; and later I learned that the scene was added ~30 years later.

I remember watching this in school when i was a kid, later i had a tremendous struggle trying to find it again, finally got it in my hands & have watched it like 10 times since! Animation made by computer opens new grounds for sure, but most of it (if not all until today) has no soul at all, no replaying value either. Check this & don't mind the language, is so well gestured by the characters you'll understand most of & it has an excellent score as well. I can see cubist & futurist artistic movements influenced this movie too. Nothing comes close, even the best anime movie from japan!

Only movie i ever will put a 10 on, i guess!

I remember this movie in almost every scene in my head. The version I had was in English and was of course translated to "The King And The Bird." I watched it tirelessly as a child after my mom picked up the tape from somewhere. I could even repeat the bird's soliloquy at the beginning off by heart. The animation and the story are both excellent. I think it's one of the finest pieces of animation ever created. Sadly my tape of this great movie went missing years ago. If anyone knows where I may find another copy, preferably the English version but the French or German version will do despite my lack of understanding of the two languages, I would greatly appreciate it. Seems that this is quite an obscure title and very hard to find despite its winning the Dullec prize in the 80s when it came out.

-Sam

I saw this movie only once in a cinema, as a child, shortly after it was released. I still remembered scenes and bits of it more than 20 years later! I recall feeling particularly moved by the poor people kept captive underground, which evidences that children's stories must not necessarily be devoid of suffering and injustice. On the contrary: this kind of plot may feed children's sense of indignation and thus ultimately contribute to a better world.

This film is one of those rare pieces of art that are a true explosion of fantasy that will capture a child's imagination completely, combined with an underlying message that will also fascinate adults.

I bought the superbly produced "Édition Collector 2 DVD" set (Zone 2) through Amazon France about a year ago and it has become one of the favorite movies of my 5-year-old son, too, although neither of us speaks a word of French...