An elaborate, compelling and exotic variation on the ugly duckling tale. Khumba, a young zebra, becomes an outcast because he lacks stripes on part of his hide. Some in the zebra community call him "half a zebra" and blame him for a drought and their bad luck. Despite a love interest questioning Khumba why he cares so much about what the others think, he leaves her, the community and his family in search of a magic water hole that might change his fortunes. In doing so, Khumba puts himself in the path of Phango, a leopard that feeds on heartbeats and fear as much as the carcasses he consumes. Also a misfit, Phango was banished by the other leopards due to blindness in one eye. Phango learns to rely on other senses besides sight to survive, yet believes that having everyone live in fear of him changes who he is and for the better. Khumba trusts and assists other animals to find his way through the desert. A hopeless case when he started out, Khumba learns that things do change for the better, but not always as expected. A beautifully animated film with colorful sunsets, glowing eyes, waterfalls, moonlight and desert mountains. The personalities of the animals are diverse, humorous and intriguing, despite frequent references to rugby and soccer that many kids outside South Africa might not get. Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Liam Neeson join a chorus of other charming and talented personalities who provide their voices to the wildlife.

I read the reviews here at IMDb praising this movie, saw the low score and figured something wasn't right. Those reviewers will probably give this a low score. It's my first review at IMDb and unfortunately it's for the wrong reasons.The comparison with The Lion King has to be done. It feels like a COMPLETE, very bad rip off from beginning till the end with a little Ice age here and there. It doesn't bother me that it's a rip off what bothers me is that it's done so poorly. We have Scar the bad lion who even has a problem with one of his eyes and the hyenas working for him. The female Zebra in Khumbas age being his only friend and of course a parent dying within the first minutes of the movie but it's hard to feel sad when there are no lines between the two up until the death. Khumba makes two friends, Timon and Pumba or rather Timon and Manfred (Ice Age), and travels to get his stripes because everyone knows you can't be different. Manfred the mammoth from Ice age, Mama V, has the only difference being a female buffalo but with the same background story as Manfred and she almost looks the same(big protective buffalo). After 15 minutes you will know exactly how the movie is going to end, this is no joke and it was hard having to sit through the whole thing.The animation is nothing special, lazy I guess. The background seem like still pictures and sometimes it feels like the animators didn't know how to finish certain scenes, making the animals do some specific things, so a few scenes end very abruptly. The zebras look the same and are hard to tell apart at times. They are way too many and there's a scene with a bunch of antelopes looking the same where they try to make a joke out of this. This is a movie for children. The message with the movie is that being different is okay, but for some reason you have to prove yourself anyway so the message makes no sense. There is one good joke if even that, the rest of the jokes keep getting explained all the freaking time which makes me believe it's for children who doesn't get the word play jokes but then again the jokes are so dumb and cheap so the explanations are unnecessary.The music is nothing special. In less than a minute it goes from happy to scary/intense to sad. What are we supposed to feel, irritated?Side note: One reviewer said something about many inside jokes that could only be understood by South Africans. If that's the case which I guarantee you is not it would just be another reason not to see the movie. If however you aren't from South Africa.Conclusion: It's been done before so many times and so much better. This movie is far from original and I'm sorry but I really can't recommend it for any reason except for that one good joke I guess which may only be good since all the other ones are so bad. Want my advice, go watch The Lion King or Ice Age again instead.2/10

I just finished watching Khumba and i found it very interesting, enjoyful and funny to watch. This is by no means only a child movie, even adults will enjoy them. I liked it :) To begin with? The animation is wonderful(at one moment i thought, is this animation), the story is moving, the characters are well written and lovable. Even the "side villain dog" is lovable and funny in a way. You may find out the story a little stereotypical but the journey it will take you through is enjoyable and you are not bored at all. OK the Ostrich is sometimes a bit over. Thats all. There are other characters like tiger, buffalo, rabbit, eagle, Gazelles, hedgehogs apart from zebras that you will surely enjoy.I even enjoyed it more than "Frozen" which is creating a hype nowadays. Just go ahead don't listen to negative criticism and give it a watch.This is my first review ever here and English not my first language so please ignore any errors.I give it 7.5 out of 10.

My daughter totally loved this movie!!! I found it beautiful and of a really high standard. It took me right into my memories of the Karoo- I could smell, hear and feel it, as I watched. AWESOME story, characters and AND animation, great job!! It was also seriously very funny, there were moments when I cried with laughter and then had tears in heartfelt moments. The voices were so well cast!!! I loved the blend of accents, the blend of cultures.. a TRUE Rainbow film, but not just for South Africa.. it is a film EVERYONE will love.Congrats.. and Kudos to the ENTIRE team and all their partners etc. I happily give this movie a 9 - it is a big winner for me, from a small studio...LOVE it!