5/5 Charming and unique...
  by Sarah (Washington)
I've wanted to see this film for a while now, being a fan of Michel Ocelot's previous work, Kirikou and the Sorceress. He has a wonderful style of animation, and a good knack for telling traditional fairy tales and folk tales. In Princes and Princesses, he does something rather unique, which I was quite excited to see: the animation is done with cutouts, using only black silhouettes and brightly colored backgrounds to tell the story. I think this technique worked wonderfully in this instance, since this is in fact 6 short fairy tales, tied together by the fact that it is a teacher and his two pupils that are thinking them up/acting out each story.

I absolutely adore fairy tales, folk tales and mythology, and each of the story here takes place in a different culture, which was quite fun. The first story is called "The Princess of Diamonds", and it is kind of a general fairy tale. The second one is called "The Fig Boy", and takes place in ancient Egypt, inspired by hieroglyphs. The third is a medieval tale called "The Sorceress". The fourth is a Japanese tale inspired by the works of Hokusai. The fifth is a Grimm Brothers-esque story with a bit of sci-fi thrown in (why not?). And the final one is a kind of parody of English tales. The nice thing about the smaller stories is also that it keeps the attention of little ones or those with short attention spans, as each is only a few minutes long.

And yes, it is only available in French with English subtitles, and some of those subtitles are not always correct or spell-checked. But my 11-year-old sister and I had no problem following the movie. All in all, I was very pleased with this little film. Definitely my cup of tea, and a wonderful addition to any fairy tale collection.

5/5 Not what I expected, but still great!
  by T. Lawson (Los Angeles, CA)
There's plenty in this (probably judging from the way the animation looks and the character design) to satisfy everyone in the family, or even your picky tastes.

The story follows two young teens, a boy and a girl, in a sort of stage/playhouse with a conductor and this magnificent machine. All the two youngsters have to do is come up with an idea, feed it to the machine, and they are transformed into the characters of the created story.

It deals with romance and loss - and beautiful lessons such as choosing the less-taken path, generosity, and not judging solely by looks among other things.

A big classic to boost to your collection. It's in English subtitles which is no big deal.

5/5 Great movie for learning French
  by D. Gildersleeve (Chicago)
I'm always on the look out for movies in French with English subtitles to use in conjunction with my daughter's French studies. She is 11 and really likes this movie. The French is clear and easy to understand. Some of the English subtitles had spelling errors but still easy enough to follow. She finds the stories interesting and enjoyable.

5/5 Creative
  by Chizukahime (Illinois)
I watched another Michael Ocelot's animation (Prince Quest), I really loved it, then I tried this one. It's very interesting because the animation style they used. The story is well-written. My daughter and I enjoy it so much, eventhough she doesn't understand French, she likes learning a new language.

5/5 5 Stars for 5 Kinds of Brilliant
  by W. Wilkerson (Earth; waiting for a ride...)
Centered around what would, at first glance, be quite a limited premise; this film rewards with a depth of character and presentation styles that defies the one dimensional [no pun intended] format that it explores so brilliantly; a silhouette style of paper puppets popular to this day in many parts of the world, although rarely executed with this sort of flare.

Set in a disused theatre, the three visible "creators within the creation" lead us through the design, fabrication and performance of six thoroughly unique and emotionally engaging variations of a prince or suitor of some sort and his queen or object of affection. The results are often surprising, always delightful and more than once eloquent on the level of Aesop, et al. The "mechanics", to borrow a term from JapAnimation, are equally a wonder to behold with the dragon the dragon in vignette 3 being an absolute treat.

My simple summary doesn't do the visually enthralling style and entrancing mechanism justice [by a long shot] but suffice to say that the "One Minute to Talk" provided in the middle of the six vignettes is thoroughly insufficient for the richness and imagination that [even without having seen the other candidates] probably gave this film a solid sweep for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences prize that is was awarded last year.

This was something of a blind purchase for my Animation library which has been preferential to the Japanese creations of Miyazaki Hiyao San, Katushiro Otomo San, et al, as well as the more "mass produced" efforts of Studio 4C, Mad House and the newer generation of Nipponese makers.

A little thought and I would have remembered that there is a long tradition of animation in France ["Forbidden Planet" and "Light Years" come to mind right away] that, while perhaps rarely receiving the recognition afforded to similar items from the Land of the Rising Sun, are equally artistic, diverse and brilliant. Take a look around for some French Animation - you will likely be quite pleased.

This item is Safe for all ages and entertaining for all humans... as to why an English dubbed version is not available, I have no clue other than it posses rather unique marketing challenges.

ZenJoy