This movie, quite frankly, is one of my favorite movies I have ever seen. Coming into this, I had no expectations. The music was incredible, the vibe of the entire movie was fun, touching, and memorable. I want to watch this movie many times more, and I highly recommend it. I was incredibly shocked to see the reviews of this movie. Honestly, this movie was the best animated film I've seen since Up. My girlfriend and I had so much fun watching this film, and we plan to watch it over and over again. And we're 26. The development of both the father and the son were well done. There were many characters that you felt a sentimental attachment towards. The animation was great, and provided a nice view of this fictional area of Africa. Let's mention again how GREAT the music was.

This is Triggerfish Animation's first feature film. It's a pretty good first effort, but the inexperience shows. A particular problem was the shoestring budget which meant some shots had to go through to the finished film with known flaws, and the story was patchy in places. This film could have done with some pick-ups to fill in those holes. The story is pretty generic, but for the most part well told. The animation is bright and sparkly - the shot of the Falls and into the tree is brilliant. Voice acting is generally good. A shout-out goes to the score: this is in a class of its own, and really lifts the movie. Well done to the first-time composer Bruce Retief. The film could have done with a few more months in post-production: tightening up some of the gags, filling in a few story holes, polishing up the animation... then it would have warranted an 8/10. As it stands it's a solid 6, particularly due to the score.Zambezia is not a movie which will be frequently watched again. What it does signal is intent from the new kid on the block from Africa. There's real potential from this little studio in Cape Town,and their next films look like they are hitting their stride (Khumba, plus the next in development: "Sea Monster" with an almost watercolour animation aesthetic. Looks amazing. Pixar 2?)

i am a HUGE fan of sam jackson, which is the reason i got the movie to begin with, because my kids and i never even heard of it. not to mention jeff goldblum (i love this man) and leonard nimoy (c'mon, how awesome is this gonna be?!). and although not one trailer for the movie was ever seen by any of us, i know as a fact that some of the best movies made are foreign or underground, so i never judge a movie by its lack of promotion.my boys and i were anxious to see SOMEthing we hadn't already seen, (we watch a lot of movies), and since we happened to be near a Redbox while on an errand, we opted for a movie that looked like the best of both worlds; awesome actors voicing over what appeared to be a cute, computer animated story with a ecologically-based message. cool, right? wrong. it appears that the majority of the $20 million (WHAT?!!??) budget was spent bribing sam jackson to partake in it, and possibly threatening one poor overworked and underpaid animator. why? because while the animation was barely tolerable, the writing was horrendous,the characters were insanely boring with ZERO personalities, making you so indifferent and frustrated that you lost all interest in whats happening to whoever for whatever reasons. i vaguely recall blood tearing from one of the twins' eyes as he begged me to turn it off, while i fought with them to 'give it five more minutes' with high hopes that it might somehow get better. and because it never did, i was literally screamed at to turn it off after a half an hour, before both kids tackled me for the remote, then one had the bright idea of simply walking over to the TV and turned off the power. :( i don't know what else to say other than to warn intelligent parents of discerning children and not subject yourself or your undeserving offspring to this torture, even if it was free and/or on television. however, on a positive note, it COULD be used as a negotiating tactic for chores or even used as a punishment, if you can force your kids to watch it in a locked room with no way to turn it off or lower the volume. p.s. child protective services might get involved if you dare go that route, so you didn't hear it from me. oh, sam jackson, i know it's a kids movie, and your infant grandkids will most likely love that their grandpa was once a bird, but you're just not you unless you curse like a pirate and kill someone. 'bad casting' doesn't even apply in this case. lesson here... don't let celebrity names fool you. watch the trailer, watch another trailer, then watch the trailer again. also, prepare backup gift offerings of apologies when your trusting children opt to disown you and vow to never let you pick another movie EVER again.

It is easy to spot a good animated kids movie: Kids will sit on the edge of their chairs, and parents will stay awake throughout and be reasonably engaged. This one ticked both boxes. Leonard Nimoy, Samuel L & Jeff Godblum created believable characters, but the Ezee character came over as a bit of a cliché. The animation was done well and could easily rival a movie like Rio. This is miles better than the previous animated attempts from South Africa, but unfortunately its very difficult to create an animated blockbuster if you don't have the budget of a Sony, Pixar, Dreamworks or Disney. Pleasant hour and a bit overall.