This is a beautiful animated film based on West African folk tales, if you're tired of seeing the same old Brothers Grimm adaptations.Kirikou (Theo Sibeko) is barely born before finding his way into trouble. His village has been held in terror by an evil sorceress, Karaba (Antoinette Kellermann), who has dried their local spring and eaten all the men who tried to fight her. Kirikou foils the witch time and again, but is frustrated that no one will tell him how Karaba came to be so evil. Finally, he embarks on a dangerous quest around the forbidden mountain to seek a Holy Man (Mabutho Kid Sithole) to answer his questions.
I really liked both the traditional folklore aspects and the more modern truth-seeking (Karaba is evil because of a reason/trauma, not just because evil is evil). It added a lot more nuance to what could have been a very simple story. I do feel like it's important to point out that this is not an African film, but a French-Belgian co-production with voice acting provided by West African schoolchildren for the French version and South African actors for the English dub.
Also, this film has quite a bit of animated nudity. Nearly every female character is topless and there are several scenes with fully nude children. Not sure if being animated makes it better or worse, but that is possibly a concern for people who think animated = for children. Your mileage may vary depending on what you allow your kids to watch. It's currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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