AZUR & ASMAR: THE PRINCES' QUEST

 

My official UK DVD of Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest (© Michel Ocelot/Mac Guff Ligne/The Weinstein Company/Diaphana/Lucky Red – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 23 August 2023 was the English-dubbed version of a truly resplendent, splendorous computer-animated French/Spanish/Belgian/Italian collaboration film entitled Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest.

Directed and written by Michel Ocelot, and released in its original French version in 2006 by The Weinstein Company, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest presents an original but Arabian Nights-inspired story that tells of Azur, the son of a cruel Western nobleman, and Asmar, the son of Azur's hired nanny, Jénane (voiced by Hiam Abbass), of Middle Eastern heritage but who rears Azur and Asmar together as brothers. When Azur becomes a youth, however, his father sends him away to be educated by a private tutor in the city, and mercilessly dismisses Jénane and Asmar, throwing them out onto the streets, penniless.

Years later, when both are now adults, Azur (Cyril Mourali) and Asmar (Karim M'Riba) happen to encounter one another in Asmar and Jénane's Middle Eastern homeland across the sea from Azur's, but whereas Azur is welcomed and feted by Jénane (who has become a wealthy merchant) as her long-lost son in all but name, Asmar is resentful because of the way in which they had been treated by Azur's father.

Moreover, they share the same desire - to seek out, rescue, and marry the magical and very beautiful but currently imprisoned Djinn Fairy (Thissa d'Avila Bensalah), thereby making them rivals, at least to begin with. But they soon realise that they need to put aside past grievances and work together as the loyal brothers they were back in their childhood days, if at least one of them is to stand any chance of succeeding in confronting and conquering the many dreadful perils that await them on their quest.

These include defeating a rapacious scarlet lion and the equally ferocious simurgh bird, and correctly choosing between the outwardly identical Door of Shadows and Door of Light, the former leading to death, the latter leading to the Djinn Fairy. But will they succeed, and, even if they do, who will marry the Djinn Fairy?

Employing a very ingenious blending of 3-D computer animation for the characters with traditional 2-D painted backgrounds, and heavily influenced by Algerian and Maghreb art and architecture, the sumptuous multicoloured result is visually dazzling and totally exquisite, as are the music themes and alluring, bewitching songs.

This is at least for me a one of a kind animated movie, unlike any that I have seen before, and I totally adored all 95 minutes of it.

And to see for yourself, click here to view an exquisite trailer for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Original French theatrical poster for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest, depicting the mighty scarlet lion and the scintillating simurgh bearing the two heroes in their quest to locate the Djinn Fairy (© Michel Ocelot/Mac Guff Ligne/The Weinstein Company/Diaphana/Lucky Red – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

THE SECRET OF DORIAN GRAY

 

My official UK VHS video of The Secret of Dorian Gray (© Massimo Dallamano/Sargon Film/Terra-Filmkunst/Towers of London Productions/Constantin Films/American International Pictures/Republic Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 10 August 2023 was my VHS video of the fantasy/horror film The Secret of Dorian Gray, a joint Italian-German-British production.

Directed by Massimo Dallamano, who also co-wrote its screenplay, and released in 1970 by Constantin Films and American International Pictures, The Secret of Dorian Gray (also variously released as The Sins of Dorian Gray, The Evils of Dorian Gray, and, simply, Dorian Gray) is of course based upon Oscar Wilde's famous but only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), which in turn was based upon Wilde's own shorter novella of the same title that had been published the previous year.

There have been several other notable movie versions of this novel but, as far as I know, this present one reviewed by me here is the only such version set in the modern day, i.e. the late 1960s, rather than in Wilde's Victorian time period. Consequently, there are such singular sights to behold as double-decker buses driving through Dorian's home city of London and Dorian himself wearing jeans.

Otherwise, the movie stays pretty faithful to the twisted tale of how the youthful, incomparably handsome, and originally benevolent Dorian becomes so enamoured by a spectacular almost full-length painting of himself produced by artist friend Basil Hallward that he wishes in quasi-Faustian style to stay forever young and for the painting to age instead. Inexplicably, Dorian's wish comes true, forcing him to lock the ever-changing painting out of public sight in his attic (and telling no-one about what is happening with it, until Basil comes calling one fateful fatal day...).

Moreover, because he never ages, Dorian is able to indulge in all manner of sins, vices, and perversions, secure in the secret knowledge that no trace or clue of such debauchery will ever pervade and corrupt his perfect, unblemished visage, appearing instead upon his portrait, which becomes ever more dissipated and hideous. However, fate has a nasty knack of catching up with people like Dorian, who consider themselves beyond retribution...

Dating back as far as 1910, there have been many other big- (and small-) screen versions of this fantastical philosophizing tale, originally told in such bedazzling prose that only Wilde could have penned. These have featured such diverse stars in the title role as Hurd Hatfield, Jeremy Brett, John Fraser, Shane Briant, Peter Firth, Josh Duhamel, David Gallagher, and Ben Barnes, to name but a few. There was even a female Dorian Gray, played by Belinda Bauer, in the 1983 TV movie The Sins of Dorian Gray (in a memorable twist to the familiar tale, Dorian here is an actress and photographic model who stays forever young, and it is her audition videotape's portrayal of her that ages).

In this present movie, however, the noxiously narcissistic Dorian is played to perfection in best blond-haired/blue-eyed (as Wilde himself had described him) but also suitably swinging-60s himbo style by Helmut Berger. He is ably supported by Richard Todd as Dorian's doomed artist friend Basil; by Marie Liljedahl as Dorian's cruelly-demoralised, abandoned lover Sybil Vane; and by Herbert Lom in truly excellent form as the mesmerizing but malign, hedonistic, and wholly amoral Sir Henry Wotton, who initially lures but subsequently overtly leads Dorian ever further down the dark, decadent road to his ultimate, inevitable damnation.

The Secret of Dorian Gray is an always interesting, visually sumptuous movie updating of Wilde's macabre Victorian chiller, but its tagline describing Dorian readily confirms that Wilde's integral storyline remains unchanged: "He is twenty-one. He has been twenty-one for almost half a century".

If you'd like to watch The Secret of Dorian Gray free of charge and in its entirety, you can currently do so on YouTube by clicking here. Or click here to check out an official theatrical trailer for it on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Helmut Berger as Dorian Gray gazing jealously at Basil's newly-completed painting of him, envious that unlike himself the painting will never age (© Massimo Dallamano/Sargon Film/Terra-Filmkunst/Towers of London Productions/Constantin Films/American International Pictures/Republic Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

WARBIRDS

 

My official UK DVD of Warbirds (© Kevin Gendreau/New Symphony Pictures/Clockwork Planet/Curmudgeon Films/Sci-Fi Channel/GEM Entertainment/Optimum Home – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial air Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My film watch on 11 July 2023 was the wartime-themed monster movie Warbirds, which I'd owned on DVD for ages but had never previously got around to watching.

Directed (and co-written) by Kevin Gendreau, and released as a TV movie in 2008 by the Sci-Fi Channel, Warbirds is set in the closing weeks of WW2, when a team of American WASPs (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) is commissioned to transport via B-52 bomber plane some American soldiers on a top-secret mission carrying a highly classified cargo. However, they are forced to land on a tiny uncharted Pacific island when their survival is threatened by an immense storm. There they encounter three Japanese aviators, the last survivors of a company whose members have been killed by supposed 'dragons'.

Far from being mythical, however, these monsters swiftly reveal themselves to be giant pterosaur-like creatures (the movie's titular warbirds), albeit armed with toothy jaws and long tails that only the most primitive pterosaurs sported, according to the fossil record. They are also a fetching shade of royal blue; but as far as fetching is concerned, their sole intent is to fetch prey for themselves and their offspring, by swooping down upon the stranded humans and carrying them aloft.

Much tedious bickering ensues throughout the film between the three parties – the female pilots, the male American soldiers, and the male Japanese aviators – plus, in typical monster movie fashion, their numbers grow ever more depleted as, one by one, they are abducted or slaughtered by the pterosaurs.

The two American parties attempt to repair their bomber plane, assisted by the Japanese aviators – but these latter have wily plans, to steal and escape on it once repaired. By the time that the bomber has been rendered airborne (together with the Japanese's own downed Zeros to serve as its protective flankers) and free from a veritable phalanx of pursuing pterosaurs, however, the only survivors are two of the women pilots – and that is only because the bomber's top-secret cargo has been inadvertently jettisoned down onto the island, entirely obliterating it and all of its living flying fossils.

Yes indeed, the cargo was an atom bomb (one supposedly pre-dating the Hiroshima example), and which was planned to be dropped upon Japan in order to end the war – but you'd already guessed that. I know I had, from about 10 minutes into the movie.

The CGI pterosaurs are visually impressive, especially for a low-budget movie like this one, albeit equipped with the decidedly unrealistic ability to catch up with aircraft flying in excess of 300 mph! Conversely, the plot is entirely predictable, and I'm informed by those who are au fait with such matters that there are various military-themed errors present (not an area of expertise for me, however, so I'll have to take their word for it). Having said that, even I did wonder how and where the Japanese aviators had managed to obtain on this remote, uncharted, hitherto-uninhabited island a readily-identifiable US military truck, and why the atom bomb hadn't had its fuse removed for obvious safety reasons before being stowed aboard the bomber plane (yet it clearly hadn't, which is why it exploded over the island).

Also, the cast list includes no major names (Brian Krause of Charmed fame being the biggest, playing the American soldiers' terse, authoritarian leader, Colonel Jack Toller). Nevertheless, Warbirds makes entertaining if unchallenging viewing, or at least it did for me – an easy-going, popcorn & cryptozoology, creature-feature way to pass 85 minutes.

If you'd like to experience a very close feature-length encounter with the titular monsters of  Warbirds, please click here to view this entire movie free of charge on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.