This was a childhood favorite of mine, but I hadn't watched it in years until one of the songs from it suddenly appeared in my head out of nowhere, and I got ahold of a copy of it. Often you look at your childhood films or TV shows through rose-tinted spectacles, but sometimes you realize they're just not as good as you remembered. I'm happy to say that this is not one of those times.
Everyone is probably familiar with Babar, King of the Elephants, and in this movie he recalls the time when, as a young king, he had to save his kingdom of Celesteville from attack from Rataxes and his Rhino army, with the help of his future wife, Celeste and his monkey friend, Zephyr. It's actually all terribly exciting, clever, and well made.
It really is a wonderful family film, with slapstick jokes that the children can enjoy (which I did, immensely!) and lots of witty jokes for adults. There's a whole song about the ridiculous complexity of bureaucracy, which you don't fully appreciate until you're older and have experienced it! And I recently discovered that a few of the voice actors doubled as villains in "The Care Bears" TV series, which I also used to watch when I was younger. The revelation really blew my mind. But I suppose it's only appropriate that two integral pieces of my childhood should be linked. They don't make 'em like this any more, and that's a shame.
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