Le voyage du prince

Jean-François Laguionie is a world-renowned master of French animation whose major works are all characterised by an air or style that is difficult to pinpoint – at some moments they strongly resemble fairy tales, at others they're more like science-fiction epics; invariably, though, at the core of it all, there's a mythology whose realisation has earned him many fans. He gives us something extremely rare: adult animations that children and youngsters can thoroughly enjoy as well.

Le Château des singes (1999), an allegory about distrust and division set in a monkey kingdom, is one of Laguionie's most widely beloved works. In Le Voyage du prince, he now returns tacitly to that world, without aiming to create a sequel to the earlier film's narrative thread. This time the tale among monkeys is focused on xenophobia – a most pressing subject, developed with gentleness of heart and rare visual grandeur.