Lots of love and passion were put on this movie, so I wish I have enjoyed it more than I did.
The main problem for me was the animation style used in the main storyline: While the designs themselves are good, the characters in motion look a bit awkward, and in a couple of moments, frankly ugly.
No matter how much I try, I will never get used to that weird mixture of CGI and 2D animation. (That was probably the main reason I could never get into RWBY)
As for the segments done by other animators, they are the actual highlight of the film: The Michal Socha is easily the best one, featuring some rather gorgeous, poetical visuals, followed closely by the equally beautiful segment by Joan C. Gratz. The Paul and Gaetan Brizzi segment ("On Death") was the third best one, featuring a pretty gorgeous atmosphere.
The Joann Sfar segment was nicely animated, but for some reason it felt a bit longer than it should have been. The Mohammed Saeed Harib segment was okay, the same goes for the Tomm Moore segment.
The Bill Plympton segment was a little disappointing, far from the best level this talented animator is able to show in his shorts and movies, and honestly the visuals doesn't seem to match very well with the poetical audio. As for the Nina Paley segment, the song was nice, but I'm kinda thorn about the visuals, which once again are not on par with the text by Khalil Gibram.
With its ups and lows, I still appreciate a more intelligent family film was being in this time and age, where mindless fluff seems to dominate culture non-stop. True family films (And I mean, aimed at the whole family, not just kids) are becoming a rarity this days, and it is such a shame people simply doesn't seem to care anymore what type of contents are shown to children, promoting banality, consummerism and a materialistic view of life.
For all its flaws, "The Prophet" at least aims much higher than that.
Never think that kids are "too young" to understand complex stuff, looking down at children will only serve to make them grown into easily manipulable adults that only follow trends without ever thinking for themselves.
Overprotective parents that never want their kids ever think about stuff like death or the meaning of life are actually doing more harm than good, without even knowing.
The main problem for me was the animation style used in the main storyline: While the designs themselves are good, the characters in motion look a bit awkward, and in a couple of moments, frankly ugly.
No matter how much I try, I will never get used to that weird mixture of CGI and 2D animation. (That was probably the main reason I could never get into RWBY)
As for the segments done by other animators, they are the actual highlight of the film: The Michal Socha is easily the best one, featuring some rather gorgeous, poetical visuals, followed closely by the equally beautiful segment by Joan C. Gratz. The Paul and Gaetan Brizzi segment ("On Death") was the third best one, featuring a pretty gorgeous atmosphere.
The Joann Sfar segment was nicely animated, but for some reason it felt a bit longer than it should have been. The Mohammed Saeed Harib segment was okay, the same goes for the Tomm Moore segment.
The Bill Plympton segment was a little disappointing, far from the best level this talented animator is able to show in his shorts and movies, and honestly the visuals doesn't seem to match very well with the poetical audio. As for the Nina Paley segment, the song was nice, but I'm kinda thorn about the visuals, which once again are not on par with the text by Khalil Gibram.
With its ups and lows, I still appreciate a more intelligent family film was being in this time and age, where mindless fluff seems to dominate culture non-stop. True family films (And I mean, aimed at the whole family, not just kids) are becoming a rarity this days, and it is such a shame people simply doesn't seem to care anymore what type of contents are shown to children, promoting banality, consummerism and a materialistic view of life.
For all its flaws, "The Prophet" at least aims much higher than that.
Never think that kids are "too young" to understand complex stuff, looking down at children will only serve to make them grown into easily manipulable adults that only follow trends without ever thinking for themselves.
Overprotective parents that never want their kids ever think about stuff like death or the meaning of life are actually doing more harm than good, without even knowing.