Adventures in Zambezia

This film is the first animated film ever to be made by The Triggerfish animation studio company. And this movie has the ingredients to be fun enough for kids to enjoy: relatable characters with some simple depth, beautiful colorful animation, superb passages, excellent voice talent from a powerhouse cast, positive messages, and of course a pleasant happy ending. kids will be rooting for these likable characters and they will be mildly afraid of the villains. But the problem is that the film's narrative is an unoriginal rip-off of a British animated comedy "Valiant," but, the film tells that story with such a variety of new different aspects to avoid being an emotionally flat failure. The amazing passages contains imagery that goes from immersive viewing scope, fast moving camera shots of birds racing through the sky and diving down, and some dark creepy shots that will make your eyes open wide. The animation is definitely beautiful and colorful, if not very detailed and strangely designed a bit, we got some realistic looking skies and water, and we have some appealing facial expressions, although, the expressions on their faces are not expressive all the time. The characters are so well-defined due to their personalities; Kai is the very definition of a simplistic yet delightful protagonist, he is an adolescent peregrine falcon that is free-spirited, ambitious, considerate, and he does have some faults to his actions, he can be disobedient sometimes. Kai's father is a serious and no-nonsense father, but he can also feel quite ashamed for what he did to his son, Budzo is a big, menacing, tyrannical white-throated monitor lizard with a huge army. (sure, he may not have any depth for motivation but he is quite similar to real monitor lizards, they are opportunistic predators that are egg thieves that steal and eat eggs from a mother's nest). The Marabou storks are quirky and evil which makes them fun to watch. Just by hearing the material delivery within the voice performances, you can tell the talented cast is having a lot of fun with their work and their roles. Jeremy Suraz's voice fits wonderfully for Kai. Samuel L Jackson did the voice of Kai's serious father "Tendai," Richard E. Grant voices the leader of the Marabou storks, and Richard reads his lines with such theatrical style. Jamal Mixon was so amusing as Ezee (Kai's friend). Phil LaMarr as an African Grey parrot is very funny (his lines contains such witty jokes, even if you don't get these kind of jokes, they are still funny and harmless). Zolani Mahola as the weaver is so cute to listen to. Jeff Goldblum did the voice of Ajax: the leader of the Hurricanes, he does smooth dialogue that brings silly comedy for even the most serious leader, without going overboard with comedy at all. And Jim Cummings did the voice of Budzo, Jim uses a deep growly voice that's just as menacing as Budzo's appearance. The film takes place in Africa, and it's absolutely accurate with the types of birds and animals in Africa that are in this film. The music score is composed by Bruce Retief, and he has a pleasant striking score. The film has positive messages about teamwork, loyalty, living in an inclusive society, and a lesson to teach parents that they can't always protect their offspring by keeping them restricted. Overall: This is an amusing, colorful, simplistic animated movie that kids and parents will definitely get a kick out of. Recommended.

in my heart, i believe that every bird lover should buy this movie. it's my FAVORABLE movie in this movie industry. sony made an extremely smart move by making this movie. they're my hero by far. if they made a game for this movie, which i think they should, make it like an RPG based adventure for all platforms, extending from the movie, like wii u or xbox 360 or xbox one and PS4, giving players a chance to completely interact with the characters and environment. it'll be a great game for all ages.

Excellent music and strong plot....similarities to other films aside. It's hard to find kids movies that are actually for kids, this one gets my stamp of approval.