“The Kingdom of Kensuké”, a very successful animated adaptation of the novel by Michael Morpurgo

This sensitive animated film brings new life to the wonderful novel by British writer Michael Morpurgo, a leading author of contemporary children’s literature.

Adapted from a novel by Michael Morpurgo, published in Great Britain in 1999 and recommended by National Education, The Kingdom of Kensuke tells the adventures of a modern-day Robinson Crusoe. The film comes out on the 7th FEBRUARY 2024.

Michael boards a sailboat with his parents and his older sister for a trip around the world. The boy is bored on board, not very excited about this adventure, especially since his parents have decided to leave his dog Stella on shore. But one stormy evening, when he wants to free Stella, whom he has taken on board in secret, he goes overboard… Saved from the waters, he ends up on a lost island in the middle of the Peaceful.

Alone with his dog, without water and without food, Michael feels lost. One morning, when he wakes up, he discovers a tray with something to eat and drink. The ritual is repeated every morning until the providential man makes himself known. He is an old gentleman named Kensuké. This former soldier took root, alone, on this island, where he lives in perfect harmony with nature and the orangutans…

Faithful adaptation of the fourth novel by Michael Morpurgo (he published some 150, sold at 35 million copies worldwide), The Kingdom of Kensuke takes the viewer on an adventure full of twists and turns, which we experience through the eyes of young Michael. A mad dog at the start of the story, Michael calms down as his adventure progresses. After his meeting with the wise old Kensuké, the boy gradually becomes aware of his place in the world, and realizes his attachment to his family, which he has lost.

With Kensuké, Michael learns to take others into account. He needs patience and delicacy to tame this lonely old man, shattered by life, alone for 30 years. Initiatory story, The Kingdom of Kensuke is also a meditation on the family, which here takes all kinds of forms, and on the relationship with others, whoever they may be. A hymn to peace, the story invites us to reflect on the place of humans on a land that men share so much. wrong.

This idyllic vision is embodied by Kensuké’s “kingdom”, this extraordinary house that he built in the trees and which appears as an outgrowth of nature. This idea is also present through the relationship that Michael maintains with his dog Stella, but also in the gentle contact full of mutual respect of Kensuké with his neighbors the orangutans, who have become his second family, and finally, of course, in the relationship between these two souls lost in the middle of the ocean.

Drawing and print

“The message that I would like the viewer to take away from the film is the importance of love between beings, between people, and between man and the planet. It is, fundamentally, a story which speaks of reconciliation, between the young and the old, between the human being and the world around him, perceptible through the prism of Michael, but also through the wisdom of Kensuké and the relationship between the little boy and the old man”, explains Michael Morpurgo, who said he was “blown away” by the adaptation of his novel. Since the 1970s, the 80-year-old writer has welcomed children from disadvantaged neighborhoods to farms to familiarize them with nature.

This whole story is depicted in classic and pleasant graphics, with lively characters and sumptuous settings. A good part of the film does without words, the images and the staging taking over fully (this is one of the great successes of this adaptation). Finally, note the great idea of ​​using print drawing, which Kensuké practices, to tell the evolution of the relationship between Michael and the old man, but also and above all to depict the tragedy of Nagasaki in a moving scene. . A magnificent animated film, to share with the family.

The sheet

Gender : Adventure, Animation
Director: Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry
Actors: Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins, Raffey Cassidy
Country : Great Britain, Luxembourg, France
Duration : 1h24
Exit : February 7 2024
Distributer : The pact

Synopsis : The incredible story of Michael, 11 years old, who went on a sailing trip around the world with his parents, before a terrible storm threw him overboard with his dog Stella. Stranded on a desert island, how to survive? A mysterious stranger then comes to their aid by offering them something to eat and drink. He is Kensuké, a former Japanese soldier living alone on the island with his orangutan friends since the war. He opens the doors to his kingdom to Michael and when monkey traffickers try to invade the island, it is together that they will join forces to save this paradise…