The Prince's Voyage: NZIFF Review

It may look handsome in its animation, and have elements of a Planet Of The Apes style class clash, but The Prince's Voyage feels slight in comparison to the other animated offering of Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale.

When an ageing monkey washes up in an unknown land, he's taken in by a boy, Tom, who's living with two scientists. Curious about where he came from and battling with the concepts of other lands, the Prince forms a bond with Tom as they head out to have adventures. But all the while, suspicious scientists draw ever close, worried over what the revelation of new lands could mean for them.

The Prince's Voyage has hand-painted stylings which are truly sumptuous to behold as it pushes its cross-generational message of friendship and understanding.

But the story feels slight in comparison to the visuals, leading to a feeling of adventures being episodic rather than strongly connected to what's going on.

The film's better when it heads out of the labs and into the wider city, as the creeping rot from the outside attacks the buildings in the shape of vines. But The Prince's Voyage doesn't quite know what to do with these edges and while it uses the outsider allegory to push an element of fear, it's never cohesive enough to firmly cement its message.

A "Festival of Fear" brings a more nightmarish edge to proceedings, as a street festival allows the apes to go wild at night, but the film feels too afraid to fully embrace what it wants to be and its whimsical edges collapse under closer scrutiny.

The Prince's Voyage is pleasant enough and a visual feast, but sadly, it's not memorable enough once it's ended.