Big people should check for size limits when getting on the ride.
(2018) Animated Feature (The Orchard) Starring the voices of Eoin McCormick, Lucy Carolan, Marcus Lamb, Dermot Magennis, Doireann Ni Chorragain, Gary Cooke, Paul Tylak, Susie Power. Directed by Karsten Kiilerich
I suppose in an age of anti-Muslim sentiment in the West that the adventurous tales of ancient Arabia don’t hold as much luster. Great heroes like Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad and Scheherazade were much more in vogue when I was growing up and I still remember being captivated by exotic cities with onion domes, minarets and flying carpets. That kind of magic is the sort the world can still use.
This Danish animated feature from an Oscar-nominated animated short director would seem to have more than a little interest for folks like me even if it is based on a more contemporary story. Hodja is a young boy, the son of a tailor in a small village, who dreams of going on great adventures. A carpet seller and neighbor who sells his father’s rugs happens to have a magic carpet and wants to help Hodja go on adventures with his best friend – a goat. The friendly but sad carpet seller wants only one thing in return – for Hodja to find “the diamond,” which turns out to be his granddaughter that he left behind when he fled from an evil Sultan who lives in the big city of Pjort.
Hodja and his goat fly off to Pjort to find their adventure but instead find a city on the brink of starvation, where street kids find whatever scraps they can in exchange for shelter. The miserly owner of the shelter, known as The Rat to one and all because of his rodent-like face, soon discovers that Hodja is in the possession of a magic carpet and knows the Sultan will make him a general in his army in exchange for the carpet. So he steals it from Hodja, leaving the boy stranded in the city. He must use his wits to get his borrowed carpet back or never see his family again.
The animation isn’t half-bad with some beautiful vistas of a city right out of Arabian Nights. It also isn’t half good, as many of the characters look like cartoons. Unfortunately, this is no Aladdin although the setting is similar. The characters are all given exaggerated features and look decidedly like cartoons. That might be fine for Saturday mornings, the 1980s or the Cartoon Network but kids today are a little bit more sophisticated except for maybe the very young.
Making things worse is that the story is very predictable (you’ll be able to figure out who the granddaughter is without breaking a sweat) and the characters very cliché – the disapproving dad, the headstrong girl, the greedy Sultan and the sneaky Rat – and none of them are developed much beyond that. I get that animated features intended for kids don’t necessarily have to meet high standards of character development but come on! I guess these cliché characters might be new to the very young.
I suspect in fact that this is meant for younger tykes – one gets a distinct impression that the filmmakers are dumbing down the proceedings which is a common failing with animated features. You certainly don’t get the impression that there is enough respect here to understand that kids actually appreciate a better quality story than one that just goes through the motions. Even the least discerning kids will likely get bored with this quickly.
REASONS TO GO: There are some nice animated sequences. The music is nice.
REASONS TO STAY: The story is predictable and the characters are all cliché. This is pretty dumbed down for the kids. The ending is just awful.
FAMILY VALUES: There is a little bit of rude humor.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Kiilerich was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1997 for When Life Departs.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu
CRITICAL MASS: As of 11/16/18: Rotten Tomatoes: No score yet. Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
FINAL RATING: 4/10
NEXT: Under the Wire
Cinema365 