On the cartoon “King of the Safari” or more in meaning the appropriate name “Kumba” came across by chance when just clicking channels. At first I thought it might be true something good, but after looking to the middle, my expectations plummeted.
To begin with, the first thing that caught my eye was the graphics. Here it is very average, inferior as even some previously released projects, here even the landscapes look so themselves.
I didn't get the cartoon idea either. The fact that you do not need to be a gray mass and worry about the fact that you are not like everyone else, is understandable perhaps even to a very small child and was used many times, and sometimes it was revealed much better.
The plot here is also very simple, the main character on a half-striped zebra needs to be given to a certain place having overcome some difficulties in order to return the stripes, but in the end he understands that being unique is not bad, as on the way he will meet friends and enemies and so on according to the same scenario.
Characters are not infuriating, of course, but they are nothing remarkable, especially the leopard villain. Not all the actions of the protagonist are clear to me, but perhaps he is just too naive, that is, he believes in fairy tales, can trust the first person he meets, very easily makes friends, unless they of course tease him because of the stripes, also because of this naivety, he is somewhat irresponsible, but not a coward and a whiner, which is already pleasing.
Also, the cartoon is full of strange and even frightening for young children humor.
You won’t recommend a movie because it’s too mediocre.
A couple of days ago, as soon as there was a hunt to watch the cartoon, something grandiose “King of Safari” got caught in the swings. I am interested in the topic of the life of wild animals, especially zebras - remotely similar to horses.
So to African tunes, we're shown the savannah. The future mother of the main character. There are already unpleasant characters! Why does my mother look like a year old? What happened to her legs? Then the herd itself, which throughout the film stubbornly calls itself a herd. I only dreamed of zebras like that. There was a feeling that the filmmakers had not seen them in their lives. The withers above the croup, like German shepherds, donkey ears, legs as if separate from the body and thin as matches. Hooves half cut off? (There are no hoof shooters at all.) Zebra muzzles are nasty and stupid. Where have they seen such mutants? I can't answer that. If that was a hint of comedicity, it failed.
What do we see next? A zebra foal is born, but for unknown reasons with a white croup and legs. All the other zebras are obsessed with drugs and periodically call him names. However, Kumba does not understand its uniqueness. The spring ends because the drought has arrived. Naturally, this was attributed to Kumba. He escapes, finds dubious company in the face of a buffalo and an ostrich. In general, I find it difficult to describe the plot since I dozed off.
The graphics of nature are very good, but animals are very unpleasant, both in character and appearance. The only thing that was cute was the wild dogs.
Conclusion: If I, the child, was not interested in this cartoon, then who is it intended for?
2 out of 10
I can’t say that I was very impressed with the first South African cartoon I watched. I can’t say I’m completely disappointed. The impression is purely average, even I would say the most average of average.
On the one hand, Anthony Silverston has a group of curious heroes, several successful script solutions and a good, truly African-steppe soundtrack.
On the other hand, a group of faded uninteresting characters, in general, an uneven plot with an absolutely confused finale and an indistinct main conclusion-morality.
The action begins very cheerfully: here you have a number of original zebras, and a beautiful legend from their world, and a wise mantis - a kind of keeper of the traditions of the African savannah, and it seems to be a good set intrigue. But then Kumba will go on his journey – and all this will gradually come to naught, revealing the strain of the creators with creative story ideas in their entirety. Funny situations will not be fun, and in moments that are theoretically conceived as extremely tense and dangerous, you do not want to be afraid at all. And as I said above, a completely confused finale, where the actions of many heroes lend themselves little to logical explanation. And, finally, the complete absence of at least a clear conclusion-morality, which should be in the lightest content cartoons. But no definite conclusion, in fact, we will not hear, which means that for what everyone ran and fussed, will remain a mystery to the viewer.
Among the successful heroes, I will name a brave rabbit, who managed to give originality, a flock of stupid and noisy antelopes, just an amazing lonely sheep on a farm. Plus, in some moments - sneaky jackals, as well as individual zebras, unfortunately, with the exception of Kumba - the creators of this character were underworked, in some cases it is difficult to understand both his motives and the logic of his actions. As a result, it is unlikely that this hero will be remembered for a long time.
The second group includes banal rodents of all races and breeds, terribly annoying almost from the first frames of the ostrich and his companion, unusually apathetic even for a buffalo, although she was probably sympathetic and empathetic. Failure befell the authors also with the eagle - a figure in the plot is completely unnecessary, as well as the awkward leopard Fargo, which looks not formidable, dangerous and cunning, but in most cases a stupid and stubborn beast, which cannot be understood at all in principle. His story, which, apparently, was supposed to elicit sympathy, does not touch any strings in the soul.
Regarding the visual part, it is noticeable that the creators tried to bring something original to the appearance of the characters, but still when you look at the zebras, you remember their famous tribesman from the memorable franchise "Madagascar", and the leopard Fargo is almost frankly written off from a tiger from another equally famous franchise "Ice Age".
Actually, there is nothing more to say about "The Safari King". Unless it is surprising that in South Africa for four years, apparently, have not yet moved away from football, the theme of which is pedaled at Silvestron quite actively, but as for me – not to the place.
Average grade. Plus one more for a well-produced indomitable sheep.
6 out of 10
Here is another animated film from a little-known studio called Kumba. This is the story of a young zebra, who was lucky to be born not quite ordinary: exactly half of the body of the zebra was completely white. A herd of zebras at that time lives in a protected ecosystem with a reservoir of drinking water in the middle. The main occupation of all zebras is to play football and, of course, to laugh at the unusualness of the young zebra. Naturally, according to the classics of the genre: the main character is not alone: he has a loyal friend and a tragic incident in life. At the same time, all this is accompanied by an unbearable drought and in the herd of zebras, the thought begins to walk that half-zebras are here only to misfortune, only to the curse.
Immersed with these thoughts, plus having listened to the legends about the appearance of stripes on zebras, the main character decides to go for adventures, in search of a magical reservoir, where, having bathed, he will become an ordinary representative of striped ones, such as everyone else. Due to her inexperience, the young zebra falls into her first binding with the hyenas, but finds faithful friends who at that hour expressed a desire to help and accompany him to the end. Anyway, as always.
But what kind of adventure is this if there is no main enemy who must interfere in everything and literally follow his heels. Here is a one-eyed leopard, who was also offended as a child because of his unusualness. However, he grew up and demonstrated to his herd that they were, to put it mildly, wrong. Along the way, our heroes get into different situations and with some success come out of them. Even get acquainted with a huge black eagle, which in fact turns out to be white - here, everything is unusual.
Meanwhile, the herd of zebras understands that it is quite bad, the reservoir has dried up and a decision appears to go beyond the militarized zone.
Accidentally, they follow the same path as our hero before, simultaneously collecting all the acting characters of this cartoon. And, of course, to the finale, when Kubma reaches the cherished goal, which is the home of the leopard along the way (one wonders why he had to walk so much along the trail when you could just wait), all the animals come to this place, though with a 5-minute delay. And again, for some reason, they can't help our brave zebra. So, the main character has to solve some misunderstandings with a dangerous predator. This is all accompanied by an earthquake, falling stalactites and stalagmites, bathing the main characters in the “magic” pond. As a result, the enemy is beautifully defeated, the hero almost died, but survived. Overnight, he becomes the hero of everyone and everything, reveals the “secret” love. All this ends with a general fun pastime and, of course, a game of football.
The script of the cartoon is not full of unusualness, rather the opposite. You will not find sharp, unpredictable turns in the storyline here.
Even the drawing of faces, faces and faces is not impressive: there is neither tenderness nor delight. I would even say that somewhere she even repels (true). With jokes, too, not everything is smooth: you can see an attempt to cheer the viewer, to present sparkling humor, with colorful characters (for example, a mad hare or a peculiar ostrich). But all this, somewhere we saw, somewhere we heard. Even the reception, when in the cartoon you will not see 1 person, except for driving cars, is also not new. All this, throws the cartoon a little back. No, not in a distant box, but in a long line after more interesting projects. You can please your child with this work, only for lack of anything else and taking into account at least some novelty. Adults, I think, will not be interested in seeing all this.
- How many stripes will make you a zebra? -Of course. Can we settle for five?
In the far nineties, the main studio for the production of cartoons was Disney Studio, which in general is not surprising, because this studio had both money and a staff of talented artists capable of creating a really living world with no less living characters who want to empathize. Now, in the era of high technology, everything has become much easier and such studios as Pixar and DreamWorks have come to the fore, from under the pen of which wonderful computer cartoons come out every year. And of course, other, less eminent studios want to join the beautiful, namely the wallets of consumers. And today I'm going to talk about an animated film by a little-known studio that came out that year, but it's only now. So this is "Kumba."
The story tells about the “ugly duckling”, about an outcast among his relatives, this story about a small zebra named Kumba / Shkura. And the reason that the baby is an outcast is not in the crookedness of the latter or the fact that the small foal has unearthly beauty, but in the fact that he lacks part of the stripes and the rest of the zebras mock him in every possible way. That in general is not surprising because in the human world, unfortunately, everything is the same and if you are at least in some way different from the majority, then I'm sorry - you're an outcast. And naturally Kumba decides to leave the flock in order to find a mysterious lake that will return the missing stripes to the young zebra. Do you want the hero to succeed?
No, I don’t think we will, because the main character of the story is an idiot. No, of course, the viewer can object that both Disney and Soviet cartoons had heroes who escaped from the pack, but as a rule, this was facilitated by some kind of life shock. Simba, from the legendary cartoon "The Lion King" escaped because his father, Mufasa, died, and the little lion cub was afraid that everyone would blame him for what happened. And the above-mentioned “ugly duckling” was subjected to ridicule and humiliation, and the complacent rooster at all wanted to tear the unfortunate and therefore the latter had to flee. In the same cartoon, everything is more or less democratic. Well, they laugh at the hero, but his father is the head of the pack, and the elderly zebras, although they murmur on the theme of Kumba stripes, do not wish evil on him. In addition, the hero has a girlfriend who breathes unevenly to him, but Kumba decides to leave in order to become the same as everyone else. Not to find a new watering hole for my pack, for the old one is almost exhausted. Not to find yourself. The hero does not need it and he does not think about his place in the big world, he just goes and does not think about where his path will lead. Kimba does not think about the animals that will travel with him most of the way, because they are not his friends in misfortune or forced companions, they are an empty place for him. Thus, in this cartoon there will be no mental anguish or attempts to look at what is happening from a different angle. This is not an attempt to show the spiritual path of a single zebra and the importance of helping others. It's the journey of a fool who wanted to be like everyone else because it's the right thing to do.
As for the other characters, which in this cartoon was more than three dozen, for the most part, none of these characters in the story is not needed, and could not be any of the characters so well remembered. Well, yes, there was a flock of zebras who sat in the mud for most of the cartoon and thought whether we should wait for the water in the pond to run out or go look for water. You know, I would turn a blind eye if there were a group of people who didn't want anything and didn't know anything. But the thing is, we have animals in front of us, and animals begin to migrate just as resources begin to run out. And this is correct and it is logical, because after some time the grass will grow again, and the rain will sooner or later come, and therefore the reservoir will be filled. There was a couple of buffalo and ostrich, who were also outcasts among their relatives. But instead of making me want to empathize with the unfortunate, I wanted the ostrich to stop talking, and the buffalo's face to feel at least one emotion when she said she had paid off the leopard with her cub. A mother gave her child to a predator, can you imagine? What a wonderful cartoon for the younger generation was shot in South Africa, don’t you think? About the leopard Fargo, I also have to say and from him, with the proper level of skill, could be the second Diego from the wonderful cartoon “Ice Age”, but given the fact that the screenwriter of the picture was a man without imagination, it turned out what happened, namely a stupid leopard whose task is to be an obstacle in the way of the main character, no more.
Summing up, I want to say the following: facial expressions on the faces of animals are just a nightmare, but this is compensated by good graphics, as well as there is a fairly good musical accompaniment in the picture, but at the same time in the cartoon itself virtually nothing happens. The characters turned out to be bland and uninteresting, and the morality of the picture is completely rotten. Therefore, my advice to you is not to waste your time, nerves and money on this cartoon, but rather look at the works of Disney Studios. Good luck and all the best.
The cartoon is very kind! The plot is full of thoughts that the viewer must catch; full of touching to the heart and cheerful moments. If someone did not catch the idea of the cartoon, then it is impossible to condemn the work in any case! The plot is aimed at making people understand: no matter what you look like, the main thing is that you have a good heart. The "Triggerfish" was great! I think this studio will soon be on par with Disney. And the graphic component of the cartoon is just great! The fascinating landscapes of Africa and good models of heroes look great in the cartoon! It is a pity that he is harshly criticized and criticized, as if this cartoon promotes the fight for the rights of “minorities”. If someone associates the cartoon with “minorities”, it is not in the cartoon, but in themselves!
More than half of the critics on this site are pessimistic. In general, the cartoon is subject to evaluation of the audience it is aimed at! If you are 20-40-year-old grimaces picking on the cartoon because of their personal dislikes, then your criticism is not worth paying attention! I’m also 20, but I’m not a pessimist.
I give this cartoon a rating