Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest by The Weinstein Company by Michel Ocelet

This is a visually stunning animation fairytale with a positive message for about love, honour and loyalty, belonging, identity and living harmoniously together. I watched this fairytale with my 7 and 12 yr old daughters and we were all enthralled. Enough suspense to keep my eldest's attention but no real scary or riskee bits to haunt either of their sleeps. Intricate detail and beautiful scenes, with a distinct aesthetic - that may seem slightly stilted if compared to the bubbly smoothness of disney or dreamworks sophistication - its more like a richly illustrated picture book. But neither is it stereotyped, there is a dark beauty and depth to the story's matriach, the hero is guided and helped by a social/cultural outcast and the djinn fairy is no know-it-all but draws counsel from all the characters to allow a fair and wise judgement and outcome to unfold. The animation has a quality of its own and creates its own world - a different, beautiful and thoughtful animation.

Im not a fan of animation, as I find the constant movement distracts me from the characterisation and the story. In this case, the animation is simple and often still. The design is beautiful, like a very artistic picture-book. The Islamic buildings are stunning. The soundtrack is attractive and unobtrusive.I would happily watch this again without the sound, just to enjoy the visual experience.The story is simple and moving with very clear narration. This is a film for adults and children to savour.

It took quite a while for this film to arrive but it was close to Christmas so I suppose that was the reason. It was in good condition and I have enjoyed the film very much. Thank you.

I bought this to use with my Year 4 class and it had them spellbound.The pictures were clear and the story a real traditional one that deals with many issues found in todays schools. Another teacher took the DVD home and watched it with his 8 year old who also loved it. His wife said it is nice to have a film that none of the children had already seen and was safe.An excellent film we will watch again and again.

This film is not your average Disney's pink fluffy candy yet it is very magical. It is not only beautiful to watch but also has a powerful message. It should be watched in schools as part of national curriculum because it shows when there is love, the difference in skin colours, languages or religious beliefs of people does not matter. It is more poignant in these days that there is a big conflict between east and west. After children have seen this film, they should insist that their parents should watch it too.

Beautiful visuals. Pretty awful english screenplay, full of cliches - just ignore and enjoy the visuals!

An enchanting story about two little boys, one is looked after by his foreign nanny and the other is the nanny's own son. They grow up together for a while until the boy's father sacks the nanny and he the boy is sent off to study. Years later he returns and goes on a quest which re-unites him with his "brother" and the nanny, and much more. A good story of what is right and wrong. My 4 and 6 year-olds love it (but a bit too much for my 3 year-old). The animation isn't "Pixar" standard but it's perfectly good. Would recommend this to anyone - children of all ages over 4 and adults too.

This film is beautiful. Bought it for my daughter originally (aged7) who was mesmerized. So good to find an 'original' children's film as well as one that opens up dicussion about identity, origins etc... As a dual heritage child my daughter was already very able to talk about and understand aspects of the story but I also bought it for her neices and nephews to broaden their horizons a little too. Best thing about this DVD though has got to be the fantastic images that stick in your mind-the musics really good too.