How sad is this?

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

We love our heroes! We idolize them and put them on t-shirts, cereal boxes, make action figures out of them, etc. But when one stops to think about our heroes, what do they do? They destroy the bad guys and bring peace. How do they do this? Usually there is a lot of fighting, things are destroyed, and the bad guy either goes to jail or is killed. The film Kirikou and the Sorceress is the story of a hero, but a different kind of hero. Kirikou does not have great battles or destroy anything. He is kind and wise. What was his heroic action? To restore peace to his village, but the most important thing to him was finding out why Karaba, the Sorceress, was so mean and evil.Michel Ocelot, the director and writer of this film, does an excellent job in portraying how he feels Africans should respond to the clash of colonialism and tradition. He uses several types of characters in this film to represent the different attitudes people in Africa have taken. First there is Karaba, who represents colonialism and modernity. She is seen as terribly mean and evil. She eats the men and tries to steal the children. Through various revolutions men have tried to fight colonialism and many have died. Children have been swayed by the allure that modernity has brought, and they have completely rejected their traditional ways. Second are the village people; they sit at home and get angry over colonialism, but all they ever do is complain. Then there is Kirikou, who is wise and kind and does not want to destroy or kill Karaba. He asks a question and seeks the answer that no one is willing to ask.Ocelot shows, through Kirikou, that it is possible for the villagers and Karaba to live in harmony with each other. Through kindness Kirikou becomes the hero, saving not only the villagers, but also Karaba. One does not have to make a choice of tradition or modernity. Ocelot says that we can have a combination of the two. They do not have to constantly be at odds with each other.This is an excellent film! It is a cartoon and thus designed more for children, but who doesn't like a good cartoon?! I would prefer to show this film over other superhero films to children, because of the simple lessons taught. Evil does not have to be killed or aggressively fought against to destroy it. Sometimes all it takes is a little kindness and understanding.

The movie Kirikou and the Sorceress is a traditional African story shown to the public in a great way that is easy for all to understand. Not only is the story plainly displayed for the audience, but the use of color and artistry show the positive and negative actions of the characters. It is easy to see that tradition is displayed as all that is good while modernity in dark colors is obviously not highly esteemed. Though traditional for other audiences, this film shows a hero that is unlikely here in America. Aside from being small, intelligent, and courageous, Kirikou is virtuous and seeks to help Karaba rather than to destroy her. Everything that Kirikou does is in order to help others. He does not simply seek to improve his own situation, he wants his village to prosper and to return everyone safely. Overall, I think that this is a great film for families in many cultures and I really enjoyed it. Once the parents can see past cartoon nudity they will be able to see the positive ideas that are projected in this story. Kirikou is a great role model for future generations. He is able to embrace some change while strongly holding on to his traditions, and seeks to help others that challenge him rather than to destroy them. He also shows that courage, honor, and intelligence can potentially be held in any hero. You don't have to be large to be strong and you don't have to be ugly and small to be intelligent.

Kirikou is a story of a little boy who quickly becomes the hero of his village against an evil sorceress. Kirikou is a special little boy who was able to get himself out of the womb, already be speaking, wash himself, and run all the way over to his uncle who is about to fight the sorceress. Kirkou is a brave, and loving individual who never wants to hurt anybody. Kirkou is a hero that would rather outsmart an enemy rather than kill them. The director of the film uses the differences in color to symbolize the difference between the townspeople and wilderness that have vibrant colors; the sorceress and everything that is close is gray or black. Throughout the movie the director uses the differences in color and detail to also symbolize the difference of good vs. evil, and modernity vs. traditional. In the town, the surroundings all have a very colorful detail that allows people to realize that the director is using the color to support the idea that the village is different from the land where the sorceress lives and so are the people. Color in the movie illustrates that the village is innocent and that the sorceress is oppressing the region. In the wilderness, the director uses the vibrant color, plant life, and animals to illustrate the difference between the sorceress and the wilderness. The differences between the wilderness and the land of the sorceress suggest that she is not only evil, but that she also symbolizes modernity. In the film, the director is making the point that modernity is threatening the traditional ways of the people. The director achieves this by saying that the sorceress had stolen all the men and had eaten them. What this symbolizes is how men would move to modernized cities and disappear. In conclusion the story of Kirikou and the sorceress is an extremely enjoyable animated film. The movie offers a comparison of good and evil by using terrific color and detail. In the film, the differences between modernity and traditional is illustrated by the colorful land where Kirikou lives and the gray land where the sorceress lives. In the end, this in a terrific film that everybody should enjoy due to such a great story but also because the character Kirikou is extremely cute and he is sweet to everybody. This is definitely a film that is not out of the cookie cutter.

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." (Maya Angelou) In the movie Kirikou there were many metaphorical meanings but there is one metaphoric meaning that stands out along with the character Kirikou. The director uses this tiny little boy who is brave, courageous, and determined to save his people. Many people would under estimate a small child because they feel as though they just can't because they are too young or because they feel a small child may not have all the knowledge. This in all actuality the statement "Don't judge a book by its cover" really does holds true, just because it's a small child doesn't mean he/she doesn't have the strength or courage to fight and overcome obstacles. Sometimes it is the children that keep the determination and courage over adults because children have big imaginations and daydream a lot and they maybe visualizing the end result and not even realizes that is what they are doing. Kirikou wanted to save his people and he knew that he could even though he was small he saw the end result of his people being saved. Kirikou was a true hero, and I would recommend this movie to a family audience. I chose a family audience because, parents can talk with their children about how art is shown differently in other countries than in America.