Okay, I’m on a French movie hyperfocus since I discovered that this movie which we found on Netflix the other day and a couple of older movies I always loved were all made in France. I have two other reviews planned after this one (no, I’m not gonna redo my review of A Monster in Paris, although I am re-fascinated with it again, so you’ll just have to go back and read it, haha). The only reasons I can think of for this one not to be famous and popular are that it wasn’t made and advertised-to-death in America and most people don’t like fantasy, surreal and completely family-friendly movies.
The overall art and storytelling style reminded me of a lot of these VHS tapes (I know, my childhood is outdated, haha) my mom used to get us at the library, I don’t know what studio(s) made them or if any of them were by the same people or anything at all, really, but they were little cartoons of myths and legends around the world, and they were beautiful; a special part of my childhood that probably was part of what made me the mythology nut I am today. It made me feel like I was a little kid again.
The story was amazingly creative (even if a few twists were a little predictable – NOWHERE NEAR as predictable as those in Disney’s “Brave,” mind you), the world-building was phenomenal and both of the art styles used were gorgeous. I like the way they switched between amazing-quality 3D CGI for the Real World and traditional 2D animation for the Dream/Memory/Imagination World (similar to how it works in the Kung Fu Panda movies and opposite to how, in the old TV show “Code Lyoko,” the art switched from traditional 2D animation in the Real World to 3D CGI in the Virtual World, so obviously this also made me nostalgic). I liked how both styles managed to give the impression of watercolor-&-ink, the light realistically shined through and reflected off things like dust in the air, wax, crystal, etc. and the movement was equally mesmerizing in both styles. I also like how they managed to make the Evil Corrupter snakes look like glowing paper puppets in both styles. A lot of the story, including a lot of the humor, is told visually, so don’t just listen while doing something else. The pacing was just right in order to both match the soothing vibes of the mythological, surreal, artistic and other elements while also adding to the tension of the main conflicts.
The music had the distinct feeling of actually being the sounds of the world, similarly to Disney’s musical shorts such as Paperman (yet another thing that bumped up my nostalgia levels), rather than drawing attention to itself and distracting from the story. You can definitely tell everyone had fun with it, from the artists to the musicians and actors/actresses. I don’t blame them, ’twas darn adorable, haha.
There was no pointless foul language, gore, etc. (although there were a few scenes a very small child might find a bit creepy, and a couple times the closed captions had a mild swear but I’m not sure that was what the characters actually said), the romance didn’t get inappropriate and I love how they didn’t automatically equate light/daytime/heat/sunlight/etc. and darkness/nighttime/cold/moonlight/etc. with good/life and evil/death the way most artists and storytellers do, instead having the villain try to twist and destroy the balance, harmony and friendship between the two opposites and showing how that would cause death and chaos; I love that they showed that both the People of the Night and the People of the Day could be effected by the Evil Corrupter snakes and allowed characters from all three of the groups (Day, Night and Dusk-And-Dawn) to be heroes; it was also refreshing that the brave, intelligent main female, Glim, was wax so that she would freeze at night and melt during the day forcing main males Mune and Sohone to start working together and protecting her while trying to resolve the main conflicts; needless to say the character development was also pretty stellar, and all together it’s a beautiful image and lesson for children.
(CGI still and 2D GIF obtained via Google Images and used for review purposes)
Mickey's Miscellanies 
Great review ❤️
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