17/05/2024 - Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry's animated adaptation of the beloved Michael Morpurgo's novel is a gentle tale of human bonding with plenty of adventure and excitement

Michael Morpurgo’s beloved children’s novel becomes a visually captivating castaway adventure filled with emotion and a timeless message for all ages in Kensuke’s Kingdom [+see also:
trailer
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It’s the late 1980s, and 11-year-old Michael (voiced by Aaron MacGregor) sets off on a cruise around the world with his parents (Cillian Murphy and Sally Hawkins) and sister (Raffey Cassidy). With a yacht named The Peggy Sue as their home now, one family member seems to be missing - Stella, a border collie Michael was unable to say goodbye to, so he sneaked her aboard. After the secret is literally out of the cabinet Stella was stashed in, the family idyll gets cut short by a storm. Trying to get the dog to the cabin, Michael gets swept together with her into the rough ocean, leaving the rest of the family on the boat.

They wake up on a seemingly deserted, paradise-like island, but it turns out there is one inhabitant: an elderly Japanese man, Kensuke (Ken Watanabe), who ended up there in the final days of the Second World War after his ship was bombed, but not before finding out about the destruction of his hometown Nagasaki. Kensuke has had to embrace his Robinson Crusoe-ness, living in the jungle in harmony with nature and its inhabitants. These include a group of orangutans, whom he treats with the utmost respect, which is also reflected in the way the directors depict them, imbuing them with an almost mystical quality. The struggle for survival turns into an exciting adventure tinted with longing for what’s lost and with environmental threats, as Kensuke teaches Michael how not just to inhabit the island but to become a part of its eternal balance.

Kensuke’s Kingdom is based on and inspired by Morpugo’s 1999 novel rather than it is a straight-forward adaptation. Choices made by screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce turn it into an even more captivating and sensitive story. In the source material, the two characters were able to communicate. Here, however, Kensuke speaks no English, creating a language barrier, which contributes to their initial sense of loneliness and emphasises the wisdom of silence. With little spoken dialogue, the creators rely on sound design to immerse us in nature. The distant bird calls, the creaking of bamboo, and the wind rustling through the jungle’s leaves, along with Stuart Hancock’s rousing orchestral score, convey the feeling of a true adventure.

A thread of communication is established between the two castaways through Kensuke’s beautiful watercolour paintings and Michael’s descriptive drawings in his logbook. Their friendship deepens in a tense action sequence when poachers invade the paradise island to capture the exotic animals, resulting in a gentle tale of human bonding that still keeps you on the edge of your seat. Starting with the storm sequence on The Peggy Sue, the ocean lifts and swells, infusing the atmosphere with tension. Feelings are skilfully conveyed through all the characters' eyes, including the apes, and in the poachers scene, Michael’s emotions are rendered in a particularly remarkable way.

The predominantly 2D animation and artistic style are reminiscent of both The Red Turtle [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] and Treasure Planet, with the hand-drawn characters evoking more than the words of the former and the 3D ships and seas of the latter. The creators also took inspiration from a sketch work of a Japanese 19th-century artist, Hiroshige Andō, for Kensuke’s Nagasaki flashbacks, with simple lines and the use of negative space, counterpointing the generally rich style of the film.

Kensuke’s Kingdom is a delightful experience for both adults and children. While the former will understand the magnitude of Kensuke’s tragedy, the latter, just like Michael, don’t have to in order to feel a deep empathy towards him. The film stays true to Morpurgo’s message of hope and the idea of family, be it blood, a chosen family or nature and humans living together in harmony.