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One of the things you need to seriously understand is that a lot of the cool 2D animated stuff coming out of the rest of the world takes a very long time to come out here. You might say that didn’t stop Disney during the 90s, but Disney was essentially working on two films at around the same time, and when one was done, they would be on their way to greenlighting another one or beginning the production of another one. They also had a small army of animators and studios full of talented and trained 2D animators. These days, while there are small indie studios and plenty of folks who can do 2D animation, we are simply not in the same spot as we were in the 90s and 2000s. There is a reason why so many of these productions have a handful of production company logos in front of the movie, why some of them are collaborations between two different countries, and why you will see a pitch for the film, and then nothing about it for years until they just pop up out of the blue at Annecy and hopefully, Animation is Film and other festivals. It makes being hyped for these films difficult, when you don’t exactly know how long it’s gonna take to get these films made or if they get made at all. It’s a shame, because then you see that the film is now finished and yet you may not have a way to see it unless you go to the festival where it’s playing. A fantastic example of this kind of film that takes a good long while to get made and then becomes tough to see is a film I have been waiting for and following for years, Kensuke’s Kingdom.
This film is directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and is based on the book of the same name by author Michael Morpurgo. We follow a young boy named Michael, voiced by Aaron McGregor. He is on a boat with his family, which includes his mother and father, voiced by Sally Hawkins and Cillian Murphy, and sister Becky, voiced by Raffey Cassidy. One night as he tries to save his dog as the boat is going through a serious storm, Michael and the dog are swept off the boat and end up as castaways on an island. They then find out that they are not alone on the island when they meet an old man named Kensuke, voiced by Ken Watanabe. As the two bond, Michael finds a means to live, grow new bonds, and survive.
This story and film feel like they were from the era of the 80s and 90s animated fare that cropped up to either overshadow Disney or compete against them. No, it isn’t trying to feel hip or use its stacked cast to pull you into the world this film brings you. It has the vibe of an animated film where the team knew this story didn’t need to talk down to its audience and rather let the visuals and quieter moments push the story forward. There aren’t any pop songs or references thrown in for the sake of appealing to a mass audience. While Michael can be a bit bland, the story focuses more on his growth as he learns to love and care for the wildlife and nature of the island alongside Kensuke. Kensuke also gets some focus as he learns to connect with Michael as a means to heal from the loss of his family from the past and share his bond with the orangutans with Michael. One of the strongest moments in the film is when Michael interacts with Kensuke as he watches the old man paint an illustration of his wife and son while finding out what happened and how Kensuke got there. It’s all done with a beautiful watercolor/ink visual style that tells you everything with its minimalist style, and the moment when you see ink drop onto the page representing the bomb on Nagasaki was both gorgeous to watch in motion and emotionally powerful.
Michael and Kensuke’s bond is great, and I only wish the film was a little longer so we can see more of that bond or we got to the island sooner, since Michael’s family is used more as an ignition point and some foundation for the latter story beats, like when we learn about Kensuke’s family. It’s funny watching this after Cillian Murphy won his Oscar and seeing some other big names like Sally Hawkins, Raffey Cassidy, and Ken Watanabe, but don’t expect to see Cillian, Sally, and Raffey’s characters for a ton of the runtime outside of the first 13 or so minutes. They do show up at the end, but the actors that get the most spotlight are Ken Watanabe and Aaron MacGregor. Not that it’s a bad thing, but you know how people reacted when we saw Bryan Cranston and Sally Hawkins in the Legendary Godzilla films. The only major conflict is when a group of poachers hunt the animals in the jungle. This is where we see how the film really cements how important family, connection, and life are. They don’t even let the leads go into a rescue mission or anything. It’s just a slice of the rough relationship that humans have with nature, and how we are willing to abuse nature for our own gain. Now, I did look up some details from the original book, and while I am sad we didn’t see the epilogue of the story due to how it abruptly ends, the story is still strong.
There is no denying the fact that Kensuke’s Kingdom is a beautiful 2D journey in filmmaking. The 2D animation on display is gorgeous. The movements carry a lot of naturalistic weight to how these characters maneuver around the environments. The thing that may throw off some folks are the visuals used for the environments. They look nice and atmospheric, but you can tell they took real-life photos of jungle environments and then placed the 2D animation onto the photo-like environments. That being said, they don’t look bad, and you have absolutely seen this decision and artistic choice done before in films like Words that Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. It just looks a little distracting compared to the beautiful 2D human and animal designs. It doesn’t break the film, since the vibe and tone are still strong, but every once in a while, the environments stick out to me. The voice cast is good, but Cillian Murphy and Sally Hawkins don’t add much to the parent characters, and Michael and Kensuke’s actors, Ken Watanabe and Aaron MacGregor have to carry a lot of the film’s performances on their shoulders. It’s one of the few times where having big names added nothing to the story. Stuart Hancock is the composer for this film. He brings in tunes that mix tragedy, connection, family, whimsy, and love into some beautiful adventurous tunes. The music used during Kensuke’s history reveal and the montage with Michael and Kensuke are the strongest musical moments.
Kensuke’s Kingdom is a film that starts off a bit unassuming and slow, but when the emotional core shows up, it becomes a truly distinct adventure into the world of animation. The wait was worth it due to how this results in a film that is described as a quiet beauty. Sadly, it’s one of those great animated films that is nowhere near ready for a US release, due to not having a distributor attached to it in the States. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the end of the world since a lot of folks love importing things. As of writing this review, it’s a shame that there is no real way for folks to watch this film, and we all assume some distributor is going to want to have “Oscar Winner Cillian Murphy” on their Blu-ray cover. Even then, I want people to see films like this, because they need bigger audiences and more support. Animation fans seem to want stuff like this, but then don’t always do any of the leg work in looking for and watching these movies. Anyway, Kensuke’s Kingdom is a touching human journey that you should definitely watch when you can find an avenue to see it.
Rating: Go See It!
The Other Side of Animation 