Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest
| Azur et Asmar | |
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Original French theatrical film release poster
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| Directed by | Michel Ocelot |
| Produced by | Christophe Rossignon |
| Written by | Michel Ocelot |
| Starring |
Cyril Mourali Karim M'Riba Hiam Abbass Patrick Timsit |
| Music by |
Gabriel Yared Afida Tahri |
| Edited by | Michèle Péju [2] |
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Production
company |
All Production Companies
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| Distributed by | France: Diaphana Italy: Lucky Red |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | France Belgium Spain Italy |
| Language |
Classical Arabic French |
| Budget | €9000000 (estimated) |
| Box office | €9,000,000 |
Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest (French: Azur et Asmar) is a 2006 French-Spanish-Belgium-Italian 3D CGI animated fairytale fantasy film written and directed by Michel Ocelot and animated at the Paris animation and visual effects studio Mac Guff Ligne. It is Ocelot's fourth feature, though his first wholly original creation since Kirikou and the Sorceress, and his first use of 3D computer graphics, albeit an atypical employment of this medium with two-dimensional, painted backgrounds and non-photorealistic rendering. Like most of his films it is an original fairy tale, in this case inspired by the folklore (such as the One Thousand and One Nights) and decorative art of North Africa and the Middle East and with an increased degree of characterisation relative to his previous works which pushes it into the genre of fairytale fantasy.
Once upon a time there were two children nursed by Jénane: Azur, a blond, blue-eyed son of a nobleman, and Asmar, the tan skinned and dark-eyed child of Jenane. The nurse tells them the story of the Djinn-fairy waiting to be released from her chamber by a good and heroic prince. Brought up together they are as close as brothers until the day Azur's father cruelly separates them, banishing the nurse and Asmar from his home and sending Azur away to the city to receive schooling from a personal tutor. Years later, Azur is haunted by memories of the legendary Djinn-fairy, and takes it upon himself to journey all the way to Asmar's homeland to seek it out. Now reunited, he finds that Jénane has since become a successful merchant, while Asmar is now a member of the Royal Guard. However, Asmar also longs to find the Djinn-fairy, and only one of the two youths can be successful in his quest.
Ocelot describes the visual style of Azur & Asmar, as distinct from his earlier works, as being influenced by French art and Early Netherlandish painting of the 15th century (in particular, Jean Fouquet, the Limbourg brothers and Jan van Eyck), Persian miniatures and Islamic civilization from the Middle Ages until the 15th century and 16th century Safavid art.
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