Director: Anthony Silverston
Writer: Raffaella Delle Donne, Anthony Silverston, Jonathan Roberts, Camilla Bubna-Kasteliz, Mike De Seve, Joe Vitale, Dave Bejoya (Screenplay)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Jake T Austin, Adrian Rhodes, Sam Reigel, Bryce Papenbrook, Devon Graye, Alexander Polinsky, Jonny Rees
Plot: Rejected by his superstitious herd, a half-striped zebra embarks on a daring quest to earn his stripes but finds the courage and self-acceptance to save all the animals of the Great Karoo.
Tagline – Half a zebra, a whole lot of adventure!
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Animation
Story: Khumba starts as we learn about how the zebras live isolated away from the rest of the animals in the wild, with their own water hole, but when Khumba is born he isn’t like the rest, he is only half striped. Never fitting in with the rest of the zebras, he tries to use his kindness to open the door to other animals only to shows Phango a leopard where the zebras are hiding.
Wanting to find a new place for his herd, he goes outside the border where he joins forces with a wildebeest Mama V and ostrich Bradley to complete his search for this new home, while being hunted down by Phango.
Thoughts on Khumba
Characters – Khumba is the half-striped zebra that always feels rejected by his herd, when he goes out to search for a new water hole he goes on an adventure of self-discovery in the wild Karoo, meeting different species along the way as he learns his place in the world. Mama V is a wildebeest that takes Khumba under her wings because of her own tragic story of loss in the wild, Bradley is an ostrich that joins the adventure because they are travel together, he likes to be a show man though. We also have the stereotypical villain in the hunter Phango a leopard that is always hunting.
Story – The story follows a zebra going on an adventure of a lifetime to learn his place in the world, this does follow the normal animated storyline, by putting our character through a test to accept that he is different and that is a good thing for him and will make him be the one to be remembered in the world. We have the inclusion of many different species of animals which must work together to survive the world which helps show us how animals from different locations will need to work together to achieve their own safety. This is one story that is easy to follow, it has moments of peril, but nothing overly scary.
Adventure – The adventure in the movie follows Khumba escaping from his contained life to learn about the full-scale size of his world.
Settings – The settings show us the world of the Karoo, a beautiful open world safari world.
Animation – The animation does work well for the whole film and is something good outside of the normal big-name companies that make animation.
Scene of the Movie – Escape the hunters.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The real world references just miss.
Final Thoughts – This is an animation that does everything you want without being anything special, it will keep the family happy and tell an important generic story.
Overall: Enjoyable animation throughout.
Rating
