Arjun: The Warrior Prince (May 25, 2012 (India))

This is a Hindi language film and a co-production between Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures India, and UTV Motion Pictures. It is always interesting to watch international animation films as some rival the best American animated pictures. However, the animation style in Arjun: The Warrior Prince is overly simplistic, and the character’s actions look wooden (though they are slightly better during action scenes as well as sporadically at other points throughout the film). It has the potential to be beautiful with lovely cell shaded animation, but instead looks cheap and is yet another example of bad integration of CGI and 2D animation which is unfortunate for a film released in 2012. It does not compare to the quality of contemporary Pixar films or other Disney animated films. I assume this a movie meant for older kids as some of the dialogue and plot points in this film are very mature and intense with multiple bloody fights. It is based on an Indian mythical hero, of which I am not familiar so I cannot testify to this movie’s accuracy to its source material and chronicles his adventures as he grows into a great hero. However, this story does not lend itself well to a 90-minute theatrical format because it very episodic, lacking a cohesive narrative. I do not recommend watching this film unless you have previous knowledge of the source material or are interested in the ancient Indian film industry. Otherwise there are plenty of other international animated films of much higher quality worth watching.

Final Rating: 3/10