Kirikou and the Sorceress

Reviewer: Maria Komodore
Rating (out of 5): ****

Kirikou and the Sorceress, a strikingly animated feature by French filmmaker Michel Ocelot loosely based on a West African fable, is a most unusual coming-of-age tale. Kirikou is a minuscule boy whose aggressiveness, stubbornness, and curiosity are so intense that while still in his mother's belly, he demands to be born. Upon his self-imposed arrival into this world, Kirikou effortlessly cuts the umbilical cord once and for all, proudly announcing his name.

When the petite protagonist finds out that his village has been devastated by Karaba's evil curse, he immediately plunges into action with an insatiable thirst to explore and experience life. Kirikou is determined to relieve the villagers from the misfortunes the sorceress has caused them, not by killing the mean-spirited Karaba, but by simply discovering why she is evil. He embarks on a perilous quest to the mountains, in order to see the wise man, hoping that he will have the answer to his question.

What ensues is a fanciful journey through a lively, geometric, and colorful canvas where angular and impressionistic shapes are employed to imaginatively draw objects, people, animals, and plants in flat, two-dimensional scales. Equally inspiring, and organic to the story, is the film's lyrical score, for which acclaimed Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour employs only traditional African instruments. This isn't a big Hollywood production like The Lion King. Good and evil aren't represented as two opposing black and white forces but rather as two co-existing elements residing inside everyone, forever struggling for balance, and always waiting to be reversed.