Blu-ray review: Ainbo, Amazonian princess – film review

Ainbo, princess of the Amazon

Peru, Netherlands, Germany: 2021
Original title: Ainbo – Spirit of the Amazon
Director: Richard Claus, José Zelada
Screenplay: Brian Cleveland, Jason Cleveland, Richard Claus, Larry Wilson
Publisher: Le Pacte
Duration: 1h24
Genre: Animation, Fantasy
Cinema release date: July 14, 2021
DVD / BR Release Date: November 24, 2021

The film

[3/5]

As you can imagine, it is not worth considering Ainbo, princess of the Amazon in the same way that one would approach a film from the bosom of Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks or other giants of international animation. The result of a co-production between Peru, the Netherlands and Germany, the film by José Zelada and Richard Claus only had a budget of ten million dollars, that is to say fifty million less than the average for films in the United States. animation produced by major studios.

That said, European animation does not necessarily seek to step on the flower beds of the giants of the world circuit either: films produced on our side of the Atlantic are generally more designed for an audience of children aged 2 to 10 years, and Ainbo, princess of the Amazon is no exception to the rule. However, European co-productions of animated films intended for the little ones still have the merit of often bringing families together in theaters. Despite a difficult period, Ainbo, princess of the Amazon brought together almost 260,000 French people at the cinema: for films released on July 14 like this one, it is almost as much as Titanium (Palme d’Or 2021) and it’s 80,000 spectators better than the last Christian Clavier, Mystery in Saint-Tropez.

So do not try too hard to discoverAinbo, princess of the Amazon : for adults, there will not be much to eat after the obviousness of the green message. That said, this is not a crippling flaw: we will even go so far as to find it “refreshing” to find from time to time a film which is openly addressed to a younger audience.

Drawing happily from several recent animation successes, Ainbo, princess of the Amazon will present us the characters and the context in a quick way, by introducing the main protagonists through worn-out clichés: Ainbo the young orphan dreamy full of dynamism, Zumi, the future tribal chief, crumbling under his new responsibilities inherited from the old and wise Huarinka, Ainbo’s adoptive mother, Chuni, full of tenderness, the villainous warrior of the village, Atok, and finally the two spiritual guides – who stand out as the wacky and humorous guarantee of the story – Dillo and Vaca, respectively an armadillo talkative and a clumsy tapir. And let’s go for an hour and a half of kidz fun.

Basically you take a little Vaiana, you add a little Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King on top of it, as well as an Ainbo / Zumi relationship that is furiously reminiscent of Elsa and Anna in Snow Queen, you transpose it all to the Amazon jungle, and without the joke songs every 10 minutes, and presto, voila Ainbo, princess of the Amazon. To look good, the theme of protecting the environment and natural resources is introduced very early in the footage, in the form of poisoned fish and other diseases ravaging the heroine’s village. If the events are first attributed to a curse called Yacuruna, the latter will then take an explicitly human face: that of the workers and machines decimating the trees a few kilometers away.

Co-directors Richard Claus and José Zelada breathe new life into Ainbo, princess of the Amazon a relatively sustained pace and light gags, while trying to tackle the real “curse” that hits the Amazon: deforestation and the permanent rape of mother nature. The message has the merit of being clear, and a handful of very pretty images (under the artistic direction of Pierre Salazar) enhance the interest of the whole a little.

Blu-ray

[4/5]

The Blu-ray ofAinbo, princess of the Amazon edited by The pact is very neat, and offers, as often with animated films, a literally sumptuous 1080p image, without the shadow of an encoding problem on the horizon: the sharpness is precise, the colors really sharp, and the very deep black. Sound level, VF and VO are encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and literally explode on the passages featuring the huge construction machines attacking the forest. Overall, the two mixes demonstrate excellent acoustic dynamics.

On the side of supplements, we will find a surprisingly complete set of bonuses for such a small production: we will first start with an interesting making of (15 minutes), which will review the different stages of production and the animation process. We will then continue with a interview with Audrey Lamy, French voice of Ainbo (9 minutes), who will come back to her love for dubbing and what attracted her to the project. In particular, she will evoke a film that particularly marked her in her childhood: Save Willy. In addition to the words of the actress, we will also find a interview with co-director José Zelada (9 minutes), which will review the genesis of the film as well as its link to the Amazon rainforest and to nature. We will finally end with the traditional trailer.