Zarafa **
Dirs: Remi Bezançon, Jean-Christophe Lie.
Animation with the voices of: Raeusi Uraeus, Sjaak Caderyn, Nya-Jolie Walters,
Scottie Ray. 78 mins. Cert: PG
This dubbed French
animation has some of the livestock and poop gags common to multiplex fare, but
– parents be warned – inserts them into a narrative that flirts with slavery
and other abuses. Our young Sudanese hero helps transport the first giraffe to
19th century France only after another animal has been killed by
hunters – and a tricky pocket of racism awaits at court. Directors Remi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe
Lie pay close attention to Africa’s landscape and storytelling traditions, but
their scholarship manifests in a stiffly self-conscious style, leaving Laurent
Perez’s thunderous orchestral score struggling to confer epic status on an
otherwise slight diversion. The Kirikou
movies were livelier.
Zarafa opens in selected cinemas from today.
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