Kirikou is by far one of the most unique characters I have yet to come across in a film or a book. For one, who ever heard of a baby that decided on his own that he was ready to come out from his mother's womb? In addition, Kirkou has a mind of his own and makes it his goal to get rid of the sorceress. However, I think it was very wise for the writer of this film to ensure that once Kirikou found the reason for the Karaba's agony and sufferings, Kirokou then understood them to be accidental and had to put an end to them. The graphics were beyond belief beautiful and the personality of each character were spot on. Karaba had a mystical voice which sounded purely evil and her hair was not unlike that of Medusa's. The warthog was also greatly reminiscent of Pumba from the The Lion King. Kirikou's journeys through the ground and around the mountain were nonetheless entertaining. His antics of camouflaging as a bird and constantly asking "but why?" were warming. The illustrations of the different sizes of the women was greatly acknowledged, for it is well known that women come in all shapes and sizes. The tree that was put into the forest by Karaba was much like the Tree of Good and Evil in the book of Genesis, representing temptation at its finest. I especially enjoyed the lessons put forth in the film, particularly from the grandfather.If you enjoyed this film, I highly suggest you check out The Secret of Kells. It's an animated fantasy about a boy who discovers the Irish Book of Kells, which does in fact exist.

Usually, when you think of a hero you think of a strong character. A character that is not afraid of anything. A hero is most of the time a man or portrayed in some form of a man like, Shrek. In the animated film "Kirikou et la Sorciere" you encounter a surprise when you see the character, Kirikou. Kirikou is the tiniest hero I've ever seen. He is very clever and optimistic. Kirikou lives in a small village with his mother and his family. Kirikou's biggest heroic journey was when he went to see his grandfather. He had to be very careful and smart because he couldn't let the evil sorceress, Karaba, see him.Karaba is the evil sorceress. She stood out in the movie the most to me. She did evil deeds like she took the water, took all of the men and turned them into obedient servants, she took all the gold, and she stole the children. Karaba was not always mean and evil though. She was a beautiful, young woman. Later in the movie you find out that she is so mean and evil for a reason. Karaba was in pain. Karaba was raped by many men and they put a poisonous thorn in her spine. The thorn seemed to be a reminder of what had happened to her.Karaba to me represents a lot of women in this world today. There are so many women that have been hurt by men. Since women don't know how to heal from the hurt or we don't get help to heal from the hurt; we as women hold onto the hurt. Holding on to that hurt causes women to be very mean to men. Women tend to be miserable, and has we all know misery loves company. This situation turns into a generational curse. Wounded women are raising little girls. Little girls are being taught to hate men because of their mothers' wounds. All wounded women need is a hero like Kirikou to take the thorn out of their backs, so we can feel no more pain and we could feel free like Karaba.I would watch this movie again. I would recommend that women that have been hurt before watch this movie. Watching this movie has made me realize some things. One thing being, we should learn to forgive! If women could learn to do that we would feel FREE!

Kirikou et la Sorcière is a story that has many morals. For example, the story demonstrates that even the smallest person can be a hero; and also that it is because he is small that he has not been corrupted to the ways of the world and into accepting his lot in life. Kirikou has courage, wisdom, and curiosity that helps him to save his village from the Sorceress, but also the Sorceress from her evil power. He is small, but he is not afraid to do what is right, and what has to be done. Since Kirikou was so tiny he was able to crawl into the water spout and find out what had stolen the water from his villagers. He was able to crawl through the underground maze to see the Wise Old Man of the Mountain. One does not have to be big to be brave.Another moral is that relying on one's family for help is not a bad thing. Kirikou seeks help from his mother throughout the whole movie, especially in the end. He loves his mother very much. Kirikou also seeks help from his grandfather who helps him many times as well with his wisdom. A family is there to help whenever help is needed, and Kirikou was not so grown up, though of course he wanted to be, that he would not ask for help when he needed it.An important moral is forgiveness. The Sorceress was evil and very cruel to the villagers. She supposedly ate their men, stolen their water, gold, and children, but in reality she only did one and tired to do another. She was cruel; however, Kirikou saves her from the evil power that has corrupted her. When he brings her back to the villagers they refuse to accept that she is no longer evil and they threaten to kill the Sorceress and Kirikou. She was truly sorry for the things she did while under the influence of the evil power, the villagers should have given her a chance to prove her sincerity.Though for some this movie would be laughable because of its graphics and how the story is written. The women of the village are drawn with varying shapes and sizes that are hilarious. Also the village elder is portrayed as a complete imbecile. However, one has to look beyond the literal text to see the metaphorical meanings. The director uses the colors and graphics as symbols. The colors in the village and around it very beautiful; they are so bright and vivid. They symbolize life and goodness. The colors around the Sorceress hut are dark, dreary colors symbolizing evil and ugliness.This movie would be best for little children because they will not pick apart the movie looking for bad directing or horrible graphics. Those things do not matter to children. They will see that Kirikou is a small boy that does great things, and they will love it. Also they are more likely to pick up on the morals of the story than adults who always think meanings have to be hidden, and who cannot see the easy things. Of course, many adults will like this movie if they like challenging their minds to see beyond the surface of the story into what it really is all about.

I felt that the animated film Kirikou and the Sorceress, directed by Michel Ocelot, and was an enjoyable film. Ocelot does a great job portraying African culture in a fun and traditional manner.This culturally rich African folklore presents a classical hero story which was great because of the unique manner in which it was presented. Although the film was your typical hero story, it was the introduction of an unlikely hero that first got me. Little baby Kirikou, fresh out of the womb; lighting quick and very wise is what first took me out of my comfort zone. In addition to our hero being a naked infant, all the characters run around topless which wasn't bad thing, just different. The movie was very simple and yet very complex at the same time. Simplistically speaking it was the actual story line, the graphics, the communication between characters it all very direct meaning if there was a problem the character would state the problem and then how he should fix it, which made the story easy to follow. The colors in this film made it clear how you were suppose to feel. With technology and the evil sorceress being represented in dark colors and culture, tradition seen as the village represented in light colors and fun music. I felt the complexity lied in the overall message the movie was trying to convey and by many people this message could be interpreted in different ways.Overall I enjoyed the movie because it conveyed a serious message in a fun and entertaining manner. As I stated before, the movie was culturally different for me but this unique experience also kept the movie exciting. I would recommend this film to anyone who likes anime-folklore films or almost any Disney fan of any type because I felt this film had a strong "Disney" element to it. Disney element, basically meaning the film was friendly and the manner in which they told their story was cute and fun.