ANI-MOVIES, *The King And The Mockingbird

Similar to The Thief And The Cobbler, The King And The Mockingbird was an animated film that went unfinished for decades. Initially based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Shepherdess And The Chimney Sweep, director Paul Grimault began production of this in France in 1948, but within a few years the funds dried up, so an incomplete version of the film was released in 50s. For the next two decades Grimault was able secure ownership of the movie and add on to it along with most of his original animation crew so he would have his film fully realized and premiered it in theaters in 1980. For a production that was stretched out over generations, you can see some of the early days of cartoons influence put into it, over time however it became more distinct and hallucinatory. The movie became so well regarded that some of the founders of Studio Ghibli were inspired by it, although it didn't hurt at all that there was a huge mecha in it too. The King And The Mockingbird hasn't been given an English dub as of yet, but there was one of the incomplete edition released in 1957 under the title The Curious Adventures Of Mr. Wonderbird with Sir Peter Ustinov giving another melodramatic performance as the titular bird, and this version is in the public domain for all to enjoy.

A progressive modern kingdom is ruled over by the serendipitously named King Charles who is a tyrant that locks his unwanted subjects in a city underneath the palace and hastily dispatches any who defy him in one of the hundreds of conveniently-place trap doors he had built all over the place. One night, a painting of the King comes to life and sends King Charles down a trap never to be seen again, and the new false King takes his place as he is lusting after a beautiful shepherdess who left her own painting along with her lover, a young chimney sweep. Meanwhile, Mr. Wonderbird has a vendetta against the original king for shooting the mother of his children, so the large talking bird uses his wisdom and charismatic speaking into helping the couple escape along with the rest of the kingdom's people. The fact that the King has an entire menagerie of amusing toys to stop all who oppose him including a giant robot and cronies with working bat-winged flying suits doesn't help the innocent heroes from living under the fake King's thumb, but Wonderbird manages to gain control of the mechanized monstrosity and uses it to destroy the castle with all the former subject including the living painting couple forming a quaint new village for themselves.

The King And The Mockingbird has a surrealistic vision to it where we get to see much of the world building than we do of the characters. The beautiful craftsmanship that went into the character designs which their body language combined with the superb fairy tale backdrop blends together for a complete package considering that the film took longer to complete than nearly any other animated production. The mixing of cartoon physics of illustrations coming to life and bringing the downfall of an evil empire with advanced technology makes this one of the few fairypunk genre films ever made.