Tales of the Night (PG) ***
With his Kirikou
films and Azur & Asmar, France’s
Michel Ocelot made a striking case for the revival of traditional animation
techniques. His latest is a technological leap of sorts, using the notorious
darkening properties of digital 3D to make its silhouetted characters – an old
man and two youngsters, enacting global legends on the stage of an abandoned
cinema – pop out even further from boldly drawn, vividly shaded backgrounds.
The tales themselves, variously sad, strange and funky, are a riot of wandering
accents, nipples (no Disney coyness here), morals and monsters, underpinned by
a palpable love of storytelling and pretty things, whether melancholy
princesses or illustrations ripped straight from art history books. The
pick-and-mix approach proves somewhat limiting, but there’s no denying these
are gorgeous amuse-bouches, likely to
be devoured by older, more discerning children and dyed-in-the-wool stoners
alike.
Tales of the Night opens in selected cinemas from today.
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