In the spirit of the holiday season I decided to finally watch this classic of animation. Although not an official Christmas movie, I think its light-heartedness and ideas of heroism, solidarity and the triumph of love over tyranny make it a perfect movie for this time of the year.
In the vertical kingdom of Takicardia the King Charles V + III = VIII + VIII = XVI rules with an iron fist. He likes no one and no one likes him. His hobby is hunting birds, which attracts the enmity of the title's Mockingbird, a joyful talking bird. The story properly begins when one night the King's portrait comes to life and falls in love with the portrait of a shepherdess, who in turn loves the portrait of a chimney sweep next to her. The King's portrait kills the real one and pursues the fugitive star-crossed lovers, who use the Mockingbird's help to evade the dangers and obstacles on their path to freedom.
Paul Grimault and screenwriter Jacques Prévert found the inspiration for this magical story in one of Hans Christian Andersen's many fairy-tales. Production started in 1948 and, after a shorter version came out in 1952, it was released in its complete version in 1980. More than thirty years in the making, The King and the Mockingbird is now considered one of the best animated movies ever made and fans of Japanese animation may like to know that Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki consider it an influence on their work.
Like these animators, Grimault and Prévert don't believe animation precludes seriousness. Hidden inside a simple love story is a bigger story about tyranny and class difference. The creators make several parallels between the King and Hitler: in some shots they look the same; in his cult of personality (a factory works non-stop to produce statues of his majesty); and in an scene when he sentences the chimney sweep and the Mockingbird to forced labour, he declares that work is freedom, eerily evoking Auschwitz' motto. The other face of the exuberant Takicardia is the Lower City, a community of poor people living under the streets, hidden from the sun, who maintain hope alive thanks to a blind musician.
The animation, very traditional-looking in appearance, is one of the movie's best assets. The Kingdom of Takicardia, designed like an exaggerated fairy-tale castle, is characterized by long vertical lines and deep perspective, giving it the illusion of infinite space. Some of the best scenes are those that simply reveal details of its architecture, like the never-ending steep staircases, the long corridors, or the sombre streets of the cave-like Lower City. There's also retro look in the way technology is drawn (there's a giant robot in the movie that could have walked out of a '50s science fiction movie), and the attention to little details invite the viewer to study each frame for a few minutes just to absorb everything.
Fans of animation in the style of the bizarre 2003 French movie The Triplets of Belleville will probably love The King and the Mockingbird. It's a fairy-tale movie full of magic and humor, told in a very tender way with a life-affirming final message. I challenge anyone to watch this movie and not be emotionally affected by it.
In the vertical kingdom of Takicardia the King Charles V + III = VIII + VIII = XVI rules with an iron fist. He likes no one and no one likes him. His hobby is hunting birds, which attracts the enmity of the title's Mockingbird, a joyful talking bird. The story properly begins when one night the King's portrait comes to life and falls in love with the portrait of a shepherdess, who in turn loves the portrait of a chimney sweep next to her. The King's portrait kills the real one and pursues the fugitive star-crossed lovers, who use the Mockingbird's help to evade the dangers and obstacles on their path to freedom.
Paul Grimault and screenwriter Jacques Prévert found the inspiration for this magical story in one of Hans Christian Andersen's many fairy-tales. Production started in 1948 and, after a shorter version came out in 1952, it was released in its complete version in 1980. More than thirty years in the making, The King and the Mockingbird is now considered one of the best animated movies ever made and fans of Japanese animation may like to know that Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki consider it an influence on their work.
Like these animators, Grimault and Prévert don't believe animation precludes seriousness. Hidden inside a simple love story is a bigger story about tyranny and class difference. The creators make several parallels between the King and Hitler: in some shots they look the same; in his cult of personality (a factory works non-stop to produce statues of his majesty); and in an scene when he sentences the chimney sweep and the Mockingbird to forced labour, he declares that work is freedom, eerily evoking Auschwitz' motto. The other face of the exuberant Takicardia is the Lower City, a community of poor people living under the streets, hidden from the sun, who maintain hope alive thanks to a blind musician.
The animation, very traditional-looking in appearance, is one of the movie's best assets. The Kingdom of Takicardia, designed like an exaggerated fairy-tale castle, is characterized by long vertical lines and deep perspective, giving it the illusion of infinite space. Some of the best scenes are those that simply reveal details of its architecture, like the never-ending steep staircases, the long corridors, or the sombre streets of the cave-like Lower City. There's also retro look in the way technology is drawn (there's a giant robot in the movie that could have walked out of a '50s science fiction movie), and the attention to little details invite the viewer to study each frame for a few minutes just to absorb everything.
Fans of animation in the style of the bizarre 2003 French movie The Triplets of Belleville will probably love The King and the Mockingbird. It's a fairy-tale movie full of magic and humor, told in a very tender way with a life-affirming final message. I challenge anyone to watch this movie and not be emotionally affected by it.