Kaena: The Prophecy
2.5/4
Starring (voices): Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris, Greg Proops, Tom Kenny, Keith David, Anjelica Huston
Rated PG-13 for Sensuality and Some Frightening Images
I'm not going to criticize "Kaena: The Prophecy" for its low-quality animation. It was France's first CGI film, so a little leeway must be given. I will, however, criticize it for its complete lack of color differentiation (which often makes it impossible to distinguish a character from the background) and occasionally incompetent editing.
Kaena (Dunst) is a young human girl living on Axis, a free-floating tree root. Unlike the others in her town, she gives little weight to appeasing the gods, who require a lot of tree sap. Kaena is an adventurer and a dreamer; the latter encouraging her to explore Axis. Her exploration leads her to Opaz (Harris), an alien who knows the true story behind the creation of her homeworld. This puts her and her people in dangerous conflict with their "gods:" Voxem (David) and the Queen of the Selenites (Huston).
The voice acting is effective across the board. Kirsten Dunst, who was taking a break from playing Mary Jane Parker in the "Spider-Man" movies, makes Kaena into a heroine we can get behind. She's tough and intelligent. Richard Harris, despite this being his final acting role, displays great energy and wisdom. Tom Kenny, who is famous for voicing the incredibly irritating (and inexplicably popular) Spongebob Squarepants, makes his character, Zehos, a surprisingly likable romantic lead. Keith David and a completely mechanized (to the point where she's unrecognizable) Anjelica Huston make decent villains.
The problem with the film is that it occasionally struggles to make sense. Some of the film's science is either poorly explained or doesn't hold up (my academic strengths lie almost exclusively in the right side of my brain).
More damning, however, is the film's look. It's not the low quality of animation, as I've said before. It was created using software for making computer games (and it looks it...the film is essentially a series of cutscenes from a video game). But the fact that there are really only two colors in this movie (other than black used for shadow): brown and blue. There are really no other colors, and that makes the characters and the backgrounds blend together. Not only is the story at times hard to follow, but it's hard to see what the hell is happening.
Still, far be it from me to say that this movie is a complete bomb. The story is moderately engaging, and directors Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon have vivid imaginations. Still, there are better animated films out there than this one.
Note: Not that it matters since the film isn't worth seeing, but the MPAA's PG-13 rating is befuddling. The "Frightening Images" descriptor makes sense, since the two villains are kind of creepy looking. Less obvious is the "Sensuality" descriptor. Either I missed something significant, or the MPAA is more puritanical than usual. There's really nothing sexual going on, except for a meaningful discussion or two between Kaena and Zehos, a mention of reproduction (as I recall, "reproduction," or a form of it, is the exact word used) and a scene where two characters fuse together. None of these will be considered sexual; the love scene in "The Lion King" is more graphic than anything in this movie.
Starring (voices): Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris, Greg Proops, Tom Kenny, Keith David, Anjelica Huston
Rated PG-13 for Sensuality and Some Frightening Images
I'm not going to criticize "Kaena: The Prophecy" for its low-quality animation. It was France's first CGI film, so a little leeway must be given. I will, however, criticize it for its complete lack of color differentiation (which often makes it impossible to distinguish a character from the background) and occasionally incompetent editing.
Kaena (Dunst) is a young human girl living on Axis, a free-floating tree root. Unlike the others in her town, she gives little weight to appeasing the gods, who require a lot of tree sap. Kaena is an adventurer and a dreamer; the latter encouraging her to explore Axis. Her exploration leads her to Opaz (Harris), an alien who knows the true story behind the creation of her homeworld. This puts her and her people in dangerous conflict with their "gods:" Voxem (David) and the Queen of the Selenites (Huston).
The voice acting is effective across the board. Kirsten Dunst, who was taking a break from playing Mary Jane Parker in the "Spider-Man" movies, makes Kaena into a heroine we can get behind. She's tough and intelligent. Richard Harris, despite this being his final acting role, displays great energy and wisdom. Tom Kenny, who is famous for voicing the incredibly irritating (and inexplicably popular) Spongebob Squarepants, makes his character, Zehos, a surprisingly likable romantic lead. Keith David and a completely mechanized (to the point where she's unrecognizable) Anjelica Huston make decent villains.
The problem with the film is that it occasionally struggles to make sense. Some of the film's science is either poorly explained or doesn't hold up (my academic strengths lie almost exclusively in the right side of my brain).
More damning, however, is the film's look. It's not the low quality of animation, as I've said before. It was created using software for making computer games (and it looks it...the film is essentially a series of cutscenes from a video game). But the fact that there are really only two colors in this movie (other than black used for shadow): brown and blue. There are really no other colors, and that makes the characters and the backgrounds blend together. Not only is the story at times hard to follow, but it's hard to see what the hell is happening.
Still, far be it from me to say that this movie is a complete bomb. The story is moderately engaging, and directors Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon have vivid imaginations. Still, there are better animated films out there than this one.
Note: Not that it matters since the film isn't worth seeing, but the MPAA's PG-13 rating is befuddling. The "Frightening Images" descriptor makes sense, since the two villains are kind of creepy looking. Less obvious is the "Sensuality" descriptor. Either I missed something significant, or the MPAA is more puritanical than usual. There's really nothing sexual going on, except for a meaningful discussion or two between Kaena and Zehos, a mention of reproduction (as I recall, "reproduction," or a form of it, is the exact word used) and a scene where two characters fuse together. None of these will be considered sexual; the love scene in "The Lion King" is more graphic than anything in this movie.
Comments
Post a Comment