The Zebra Thing
When Khumba was born the rest of the zebras were shocked as he only had half a body of stripes with some believing it a bad sign. So when one disaster after another hits the herd Khumba finds himself being ostracized and blamed for all the bad luck especially when a drought causes their safe water hole to dry up. It leads to Khumba leaving the herd and heading into the dangerous are of the Great Karoo where on a quest to find another waterhole he meets a variety of other animals and even finds some quirky travelling companions.
I would love to have the innocence of youth again, not only would I still have the anything is possible attitude and unharnessed thinking but I would be able to enjoy animated movies a lot more. But the innocence of youth left me a long time ago and nearly every time I encounter another animated movie pitched as family entertainment I find my attention drifting as it did when I watched "Khumba". And the simple reason is that the same old story gets churned out but with different characters, more often than not. As such we have a zebra who feels ostracized on a quest and he meets lots of colourful characters along the way till he proves himself. For children the storyline always worked and I would imagine it still does but that familiarity makes it lack something for older family members who watch this.
But truth be told I don't think "Khumba" was ever really about the storyline but about the production company Triggerfish Animation. Here is a movie from an animation house many will have never heard off but who are delivering the modern animation work at the same level of Disney and all those bigger animation houses. And if I was wearing one I would take my hat off to them as the animation work is at times stunning to the point you actually forget that this isn't a Disney movie.
What this all boils down to is that whilst the familiarity of "Khumba" and its story worked against it for me the level of animation work still impressed a whole lot more than I was expecting to be. Hopefully Triggerfish Animation will not only come out with another animation of this quality but also come up with a more original storyline.
