The King and the Mockingbird (1980)
- Original title
- Le Roi et l'Oiseau
- Directed by
- Paul Grimault
- Genre
- fairy tale, fantasy film, animated film, romance film, family film, pritcha
- Country
- France
- Runtime
- 1h 21m
- Rated
- AL
- Rating
- 7.8 of 10 from 417 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A shepherdess and a chimney sweep fall in love and flee from a tyrannical king. A mockingbird helps them escape through a fantastical kingdom.
whimsicaldreamlikeplayfulslow-burnvisually lushromanticmelancholicfairy-tale
What happens
The King and the Mockingbird (French: Le Roi et l'Oiseau, lit. 'The King and the Bird') is an animated fantasy film directed by Paul Grimault. Prior to 2013, it was released in English as The King and Mister Bird. Begun in 1948 as La Bergère et le Ramoneur (lit. "The shepherdess and the chimney sweep", loosely based on the fairy-tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen), the film was a collaboration between Grimault and popular French poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert. However, the film suddenly stopped production and was released unfinished by its producer in 1952, without the approval of either Grimault or Prévert. Through the course of the 1960s and 1970s, Grimault obtained the rights to the film and was able to complete a new version as they originally intended. The film was completed over 30 years after production commenced. The film is today regarded as a masterpiece of French animation and has been cited by the Japanese directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata as an influence. It was released in the United Kingdom dubbed into English in cinemas in 1984 and subsequently on VHS, but then had poor availability in English until 2014. After being re-released in France in 2013, it was re-released in cinemas in the United Kingdom, and the first English-friendly DVD release was made there in April 2014. While the completed version has not been released on home video in North America, it was available for streaming on The Criterion Channel. A low-budget English-language release of the 1952 version, titled The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird, is in the public domain and available free online. In that version, Peter Ustinov narrates and voices the main role of the bird. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Chucha-3 (2004)
Separated (1980)
The Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep (1953)
The Nightingale (1980)
The Parable About Daisies (1975)
The Legend of the Moor's Inheritance (1959)
Bobo la tête (1980)
Twelve Months (1980)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.