Drôles d'oiseaux

An amazing gem set in an imaginary world in the heart of Africa right where it plunges over the magnificent Victoria Falls, arguably one of the greatest waterfalls in the world.

What as incredible setting for a 'coming of age' story that should appeal to everyone, young an old.

While the animation might be a little dated, this in no way detracts from the way the tale is told - the characters are just as relevant now as ever they were.

Fresh! Different! Yet familiar enough for youngsters to identify with and enjoy.

Go and see this movie.

You'll be so glad you did.

This is a story of a young and disobedient falcon who left his father and their nest in the isolated desert to challenge the mysterious bird-city Zambezia.

I watched this with two kids, 4 and 9, both liked it a lot and so am I. It's pretty dynamic and funny, colorful (beautiful nature, birds, animals) and has nice and lively soundtrack. Storyline is easy to follow, not too complicated for children and not too boring to fall asleep in the middle for grownups. Characters are OK, although no really memorable ones (don't remember the kids to discuss anyone on the way back from the cinema). As an extra plus I see the absence of hidden context or jokes for adults.

Overall, I think it's underrated and surely worth at least a single watch in the cinema or at home by all of your family.

'Zambezia', the new south African animated film is an obvious low budget animated feature, you wont see any ads on TV, and the animation looks 10 years old, but that's no reason to straight away hate on Zambezia, it's not one of those dubbed foreign trashy animated movies which have no single thing put into them apart from making money. Zambezia has a story, a plot, good characters. When it wants you to take it seriously you will take it seriously. When it wants you to laugh you will not be sitting there rolling your eyes.

The movie is another one of those typical 'parent letting go of child' kind of animated movies, which is possibly the most cliché type of character development seen in any kids movie. But I guess there's good reason for the situation, it just doesn't have it thrown in to make a plot (hint hint Ice Age 4). But I thought the characters were good, not really that deep, but good, nothing to really complain about.

The movie has a nice soundtrack, and I thought the visuals of the landscape were absolutely brilliant. The humour isn't bad, with a lot of jokes that hit. Nothing laugh out loud funny of course, but still much better than the humour in 'Ice Age 4'.

There are some obvious similaries to 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' and possibly the movie was made with the intention to 'duel' Rio, but it still has originality, the bad guy for one, is new, and intimidating enough to be a good villain.

Zambezia is a perfectly good movie for kids and adults, there's nothing wrong with it at all really, and it actually kind of surprised me. I think this movie takes much more risks than 'Ice Age 4', 'Rio', and many other current animated films.

Go and see it, have a good time.

8.2 of 10. The second awesome film of 2012 Samuel L. Jackson is in (as a key character voice), and it's very different from Django Unchained, although there's an underlying common bond in working together in each film.

Besides making you want to pet birds, maybe not the vulture-like marabous, the animation doesn't get nearly enough credit. The lizards are bordering on life-like and the waterfall and mist (not to mention sand and other colored dusts) simply has never been better outside of actual filming of waterfalls. Even the bird poo is as gross as in real life.

As for the character voices, I was concerned that Nemoy and Jackson would dominate the audio and distract from the story. Instead, they both give surprisingly understated performances where you need to listen closely to identify them. Even Goldblum deserves credit because I still don't know which character he voiced.

Dear Oscars/Academy, you failed us again. Do any of you actually watch animations/cartoons?

This is Triggerfish Animation's first feature film. It's a pretty good first effort, but the inexperience shows. A particular problem was the shoestring budget which meant some shots had to go through to the finished film with known flaws, and the story was patchy in places. This film could have done with some pick-ups to fill in those holes. The story is pretty generic, but for the most part well told. The animation is bright and sparkly - the shot of the Falls and into the tree is brilliant. Voice acting is generally good. A shout-out goes to the score: this is in a class of its own, and really lifts the movie. Well done to the first-time composer Bruce Retief.

The film could have done with a few more months in post-production: tightening up some of the gags, filling in a few story holes, polishing up the animation... then it would have warranted an 8/10. As it stands it's a solid 6, particularly due to the score.

Zambezia is not a movie which will be frequently watched again. What it does signal is intent from the new kid on the block from Africa. There's real potential from this little studio in Cape Town,and their next films look like they are hitting their stride (Khumba, plus the next in development: "Sea Monster" with an almost watercolour animation aesthetic. Looks amazing. Pixar 2?)