Director: Julien Fournet Cast: Eleanor Noble, Wyatt Bowen, Pauline Little, Terrence Scammel, Richard Dumont, Sonya Ball, Scott Humphrey
Rating: (PG)
Three stars
REVIEWED BY JEREMY QUINN
I’ve made my aversion to CG animated kids’ films pretty clear by now. There’s something about the pandering humour crossed with the often nightmarishly garish visuals that can seriously ruin my day. I’m also prepared, occasionally, to admit that maybe I just need to relax a little and pretend I’m a kid again.
To cut to the chase, Pil’s Adventures (Reading) fits squarely into the perfectly fine category. It’s a hero’s journey-style adventure - a bit of Shrek here, a bit of The Wizard of Oz there - that will most likely please its intended audience of 8-year-olds without sending their parents to the madhouse.
Set in the medieval town of Foggyburgh, presumably just down the road from Duloc, it tells of plucky orphan girl Pil, who survives by stealing food to eat with the help of her three pet weasels.
Somewhere along the way, she discovers the evil Lord Tristain is intending to usurp the throne by turning the dopey Prince Roland into a half-cat, half-chicken (or chickat, to be more accurate), and disguised as a princess, travels to the yada yada you get the picture...
The third feature by French animation studio TAT Productions, this is strictly in the DreamWorks mould, although the animation is not nearly as obnoxious as it could’ve been (the worst I could say is that it’s too purple), and if I was checking my watch early on, it’s still likeable, with a few decent laughs, an exciting finale, and, dare I say it, some good messages.
