I went to the theater hoping to see an animation with at least mediocre quality. I didn't. It was... disappointing, to say the least. It's quite hard to pick out which element was the worst, since the animation falls flat on most of them.
The plot was a twisted and butchered version of the old Persian tale of "Zahhaak" from Shahname. The tale itself is -obviously- a timeless classic. This... "adaptation", however, is a confusing monstrosity. If you are not familiar with this tale, the movie will only make you confused and bored. If you have in fact read or heard it before, the movie will probably make you angry... and again, bored.
The story isn't engaging, nor does it make any sense at times. Major events and plot points are looked over or rushed, and random pointless conversations go on forever and ever. The dialogue is weak, vague and poorly written. The juvenile attempt at making the dialogue seem "old" is very annoying and unbalanced. the English equivalent of some of the lines goes something like this: " Thou shalt get da hell outta here!"
The soundtrack was good overall, but poorly placed in many occasions. The animating itself was quite adequate for an Iranian animation and there were some nice - and bloody- action scenes. But average technique can never make up for a bland and weak script, sub-standard composition and catastrophic directing.
All in all, I didn't enjoy watching the whole thing. Believe me, I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn't. I didn't expect much and yet, I was let down by this less than mediocre waste of talent.
The plot was a twisted and butchered version of the old Persian tale of "Zahhaak" from Shahname. The tale itself is -obviously- a timeless classic. This... "adaptation", however, is a confusing monstrosity. If you are not familiar with this tale, the movie will only make you confused and bored. If you have in fact read or heard it before, the movie will probably make you angry... and again, bored.
The story isn't engaging, nor does it make any sense at times. Major events and plot points are looked over or rushed, and random pointless conversations go on forever and ever. The dialogue is weak, vague and poorly written. The juvenile attempt at making the dialogue seem "old" is very annoying and unbalanced. the English equivalent of some of the lines goes something like this: " Thou shalt get da hell outta here!"
The soundtrack was good overall, but poorly placed in many occasions. The animating itself was quite adequate for an Iranian animation and there were some nice - and bloody- action scenes. But average technique can never make up for a bland and weak script, sub-standard composition and catastrophic directing.
All in all, I didn't enjoy watching the whole thing. Believe me, I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn't. I didn't expect much and yet, I was let down by this less than mediocre waste of talent.