Sam et les monstres de feu

Face value this film is absolutely ridiculous. It is an environmentalist's propaganda piece with an end of world plot akin to restarting the sun. The animation is quite good, the animals and children are really cute and kids will probably love the colour and action sequences. It is also interesting to see the climate change issue from a Thai perspective.

Where this film shows its sophistication is in the main conflict of the film. We are presented with two solutions to the film's problem. One solution that requires minimal effort for short term gain with long term consequence and the other solution that would require a complete change to the way people have become accustomed to living their lives. This conflict encapsulate the inertia humanity has towards dealing with climate change, that we would choose an option though ineffective to solving the problem would at least have minimal impact on the comfort of our lives. The fact it chose to deal with climate change in terms of a problem of attitude instead of environmental was a lot more mature than I expected for this film.

I picked this DVD up for $1.00 today. I was thinking it would be a cheesy kid movie, as most with the type of art on the cover seems to be, BUT I am actually impressed! With the very beginning to the end. I agree with a lot of things that are mentioned with the relationship between humans and mother earth. I am definitely glad I picked it up when I saw it in the stack.