Princess (2006) - KamuiX

Created on May 19th, 2008 by KamuiX

Rating:

Being an anime fan, I’ve always wondered why the rest of the world rarely takes animation films seriously. Seeing the praise for films like Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue (or any of his films, for that matter) and Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies, I find that odd. They show mature, serious subject matter can come across in animated form just as well as live-action. Yeah, sometimes someone gets a clue, like Todd Solondz with his excellent Happiness, but more often than not, the animated film is heavily relegated to children (not to say some of those films aren’t very good as well). So I was happy a couple years ago when I discovered 3 animated films being released that certainly weren’t child’s play.

The first of the trio that I saw, Frank Sudol’s City of Rott, didn’t exactly deliver the goods. The second however, Christian Volckman’s Renaissance, was pretty damn good. The third and final film that was brought to my attention, Anders Morgenthaler’s Princess, which was the film that sounded the most intriguing, had eluded me for some time. I’ve finally gotten the chance the see it and I’m happy to say it pretty much lives up to the expectations I had for it. It’s far from kiddy-fare, and one of the more disturbing animated films I’ve ever come across.

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