Kensuke’s Kingdom
Michael Morpurgo’s acclaimed novel becomes an outstanding animated film.
Everything the light touches…
Image courtesy of Mélusine Productions/Modern Films.
When Paddington appeared on our screens in 2014 everyone recognised it as a film that could be spoken of as an instant classic and now we have a new film of which the same can be said, Kensuke’s Kingdom. A further link between these two movies lies in the fact that both had their origins in literature intended to appeal to children but which as it turned out proved equally popular with adult readers. Paddington’s creator, Michael Bond, died in 2017 but Sir Michael Morpurgo, now 80 years old, is still with us and, although other works of his have been filmed (most notably War Horse in 2011), he has stated that this is the adaptation which he loves the most. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and, while paring down the book in some respects and also making a few changes, he has obviously captured the core of it given Morpurgo’s high regard for the film.
Where Paddington worked brilliantly with a central animated character alongside a cast of on-screen actors, Kensuke's Kingdom is wholly animated and tells a story that works well in that form. The central figure is Michael who is eleven years old and is first seen at sea aboard a yacht which his parents own. It appears that they have lost their jobs but can afford to do this. No real explanation is offered but one is ready to accept the situation as we join their world-wide trip involving Michael, his parents and his sister, Becky. Also on board is their dog, Stella, to whom Michael is devoted. However, he comes across as a somewhat mischievous child keen to assert himself so as not to be seen as inferior to his slightly older sister. Despite being set so far away from England (we are soon in the Pacific), these early scenes carry a distant echo of the tales of Arthur Ransome, but then the narrative takes a major turn. A severe storm brews up and it leads to Michael and the dog being washed overboard. They find themselves brought ashore on an island which becomes the setting for the rest of the film (any echo now is of Robinson Crusoe and it is no surprise that Defoe’s novel is a favourite of Morpurgo’s).
What keeps the story going is the revelation that the island has become the home of a solitary old man. This is Kenosuke and he is Japanese. On realising that Michael and Stella are present, he is wary but does appreciate that when it comes to food and water he should help them. In time Kenosuke’s attitude changes and eventually a bond does develop between the boy and the old man even though we come to realise that Kenosuke has adopted this totally reclusive lifestyle having lost his family in 1945 when the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki. But, tragic as were the circumstances that drove him to live alone, Kenosuke has made a fruitful life for himself caring for the animals that live on the island and for the orangutans and gibbons in particular. After an unfortunate first encounter with an orangutan, Michael comes to see the value of a way of life which values all of nature’s creatures. We share his concern when a ship bearing hunters arrives and they go in pursuit of the animals (the drama here again carries an echo, this time of Disney’s 1942 film Bambi).
Regardless of any other works that have fed into this one (and in the context of cinema one thinks of the wordless 2016 animation The Red Turtle albeit that this is a more readily accessible work for general audiences), Kensuke’s Kingdom is all of a piece with the concerns that have influenced so much of Morpurgo’s work. The abhorrence of mankind’s propensity for wars is linked with a vivid awareness of how common humanity needs to be a unifying force as illustrated here by the coming together of an English boy and a Japanese man. Similarly, one finds ecological matters reflected in Kenosuke’s closeness to the animals and to the natural beauty of the island. Just occasionally the film expresses all this with less subtlety than one might wish, but that is forgivable in a film that is hoping to capture a mass audience. It deserves to do so and all the more so because the direction by first-time feature directors Kirk Hendry and Neil Boyle is remarkably assured, the music score by Stuart Hancock is admirably sensitive to the film’s various moods and the voice work is of special distinction. Cillian Murphy (dad), Sally Hawkins (mum) Aaron McGregor (Michael) and Raffey Cassidy (Becky) all make a special contribution here. Furthermore, in the case Kensuke, a bold decision has the veteran Ken Watanabe speaking the role not in English but in Japanese, yet the film is sufficiently skilled to express persuasively the rapport achieved by him and Michael even though they share no common language. Another striking touch is the elimination of a late revelation which I am told is in the book. Its omission, eschewing the possibility of lightening the tone of the piece, feels right. The ending of the film is in one sense clear-cut but audiences may yet vary in how they choose to respond to it. Personally I liked these concluding moments very much. What would normally emerge as a straightforward happy ending is also imbued, in my eyes at least, with a sense of loss and I take that as evidence that the film has fully appreciated and captured how much the kingdom of Kensuke means to its creator Michael Morpurgo.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Voices of Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy, Aaron MacGregor, Ken Watanabe, Raffey Cassidy, Alfred Kodai Berglund, Ken Ochiai, Cavin Cornwall.
Dir Kirk Hendry and Neil Boyle, Pro Camilla Deakin, Ruth Fielding, Stéphen Roelants, Sarah Radcliffe, Barnaby Spurrier, Adrian Politowski, Martin Metz, Jean Labadie and Anne-Laure Labadie, Screenplay Frank Cottrell Boyce, Art Dir Michael Shorten, Ed Richard Overall, Music Stuart Hancock, Animation Dir Peter Dodd.
Lupus Films/ Mélusine Productions/Align/Jigsaw Films/BFI/Ffilm Cymru Wales/Le Pacte etc.-Modern Films.
84 mins. UK/Luxembourg/France 2023. UK Rel: 2 August 2024. Cert. PG.
