Animated fable is whimsical and epic

It's taken more than two years for Michel Ocelot's dazzling animated fable Azur & Asmar - The Princes' Quest to get an English-language dubbing and a stateside release, but better late than never.

The French animator, writer and director - whose Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) was set in Africa and likewise was wondrous to behold - has imagined a story at once whimsical and epic. The tale of two brothers from childhood to manhood, it is rife with timeless storybook themes and offers an inspiring vision of harmony between different cultures, different people.

Long ago and faraway, two children, one born white with blue eyes, the other brown-skinned and dark-haired, are raised by their loving Arab mother - the mistress to a cold, imperious European noble. When she and the dark child are cast out, an adventure begins that ultimately takes the estranged sons across the sea to an exotic city of mosques and marketplaces, pitting them as rivals on a quest to find the Djinn fairy, a captive princess.

Using a mix of cut-out cartooning and CGI, incorporating bold colors and Islamic design influences, Azur & Asmar is eye-popping and elegant. While most of the dialogue is in English, there are exchanges in Arabic that go without subtitling - leaving the mystery of what's being said to be sussed out in other ways.

Like the best fairy stories, Ocelot's doesn't condescend, or get cute. In fact, there are elements that some parents may find inappropriate (a bared breast, limbless beggars, swordplay that actually results in death). But it's the filmmaker's deft balancing of a fanciful children's tale with the harsher realities of human behavior that makes this such a rich, satisfying affair.EndText