Azur et Asmar (Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest) (2006)

Critic Reviews

• Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

  This is a unique effort that art film crowds and families will both be able to appreciate.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  Azur has the DNA of a captivating bedtime story, not a sugar-high Saturday cartoon.

• Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

  The tale of two brothers from childhood to manhood, it is rife with timeless storybook themes and offers an inspiring vision of harmony between different cultures, different people.

• Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

  Is it too early to announce the most beautiful film of 2009? Two days into the new year, it's hard to imagine a more transporting cinematic experience coming our way than Azur & Asmar, an animated feature from the French writer-director Michel Ocel

• Jen Chaney, Washington Post

  Combining cutouts with 3-D digital animation, Ocelot turns every frame of his film into a beautiful, dynamic page out of a picture book.

• Nathan Lee, New York Times

  Despite a stiffness of movement that suggests an upscale take on the cutout animation of South Park, the movie has a terrific flair for arabesque patterning, a gemlike luminosity of surface and a handsome, classical cast of mind.

• Sarah Sluis, Film Journal International

  Magical tale about a French and Arab boy's adventures, but the sparkling artwork is dulled by the lackluster plot.

• Ian Buckwalter, DCist

  Like the best fairy tales, Ocelot's film takes a recognizable world and injects a sense of magic and wonder into it in service of creating a fable far bigger than the story in which it is contained.

• Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

  Foreign fairy tale teaches cultural understanding.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  The result is not entirely seamless... but the filmmaker still uses plenty of long shots and landscapes that feature his traditional look and feel and movement.

• Maitland McDonagh, Miss FlickChick

  Michel Ocelot's jewel-like fable unfolds in a once-upon-a-time version of medieval North Africa alive with vibrant colors and dazzling patterns.

• Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star

  The film is full of out-there artistic decisions that don't quite pay off, it makes you feel like you're taking medicine without a spoonful of sugar.

• Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  It's a simple tale with magical imagery and a worthy message, but it's also alive with offbeat humor and witty observations of childhood behavior and adult suspicion.

• Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

  Gorgeous and mesmerizing, Azur & Asmar eschews computer-generated imagery to render a flat, storybook-style animation that never stops delighting with its ornamental detail, range of color and exotic story.

• Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com

  a multicultural masterwork that is sure to delight viewers of all ages

• Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper

  Energy-wise, it would barely register a pulse in the world of Disney...but its straightforward storytelling and low-key humor are a relief from the reference-stuffed fever pitch that Hollywood animation delivers.

• Jeffrey Lyles, Gazette (MD)

  The first thing that will really capture your attention is its breathtaking animated style but beyond its dazzling appearance, the film also has an engaging story of a classic fairy tale.

• Marc Mohan, Oregonian

  The backdrops and settings are ornate and stunningly, vividly colored, while the people are depicted with a two-dimensionality like that of a historical tapestry.

Read all 18 critic reviews