Film Review – Kensuke’s Kingdom (2024)

If you went to primary school in Scotland then chances are you were made to read at least one Michael Morpurgo book. The prolific author and his works are undeniably popular, yet can venture into schmaltzy territory due to his repetitive themes and overly whimsical magical-realist settings. Kensuke’s Kingdom, an animated adaptation of Morpurgo’s 1999 book of the same name, bears those same traits within its story, yet finds the earnest emotion underneath it all.

An 11-year-old boy named Michael (Aaron McGregor) – a fictional stand-in for the author himself – is travelling the world in a boat with his family. He’s a naive, immature kid who struggles to cope with change, given the shift from his previous life in Britain to now constant sailing. During a bad storm, he and his dog Stella are swept overboard, becoming stranded on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Initially struggling to survive, he is found by an older castaway, Kensuke (Ken Watanabe), who cannot speak English and harbours hardships of his own. Together the two marooners must find a way to co-exist until help can be reached.

A transnational collaboration between the UK, Luxembourg, and , the animation is stunning but occasionally incongruous. Utilising 2D hand drawings in the creation of the characters, but 3D backgrounds for backdrops such as the water that the family boat, the Peggy Sue, sails across the water. While the line work and colours are picturesque, it is a somewhat distracting effect as this merging of two styles feels clunky. If the intention was to show conflict through these mediums then fair enough, but it’s still intrusive to the otherwise gorgeous visuals. The film thankfully becomes more 2D orientated as it goes on, but this, combined with some janky mouth movements takes the viewer out of the experience on occasion.

Yet it is the thematic substance that makes Kensuke’s Kingdom as compelling as it is. It is ultimately a story of community and connection, even if people are divided or unable to understand each other. Michael speaks only in English, yet Kensuke can only speak Japanese. This is reminiscent of films such as the 1966 Czech movie Coach to Vienna, in which a Czech widow and an Austrian soldier were forced to travel together during the twilight of WWII. Even though they couldn’t vocally understand each other, also due to speaking different languages, they could still relate to each other emotionally through their actions. Kensuke’s Kingdom capitalises on the same strengths, using its story, character dynamics, and chosen audio-visual medium to explore how powerful connection and respect are in times of strife.

In particular, the film serves as a captivating tale of grief and how one grows up and responds to life’s hardships. Whether this is Michael adapting to his new environment, or Kensuke processing his own losses – as shown in the film’s best scene, which utilises Japanese ink calligraphy to portray his backstory – this is a movie about coping and adapting. Lots of the usual Morpurgo whimsy is woven in, such as harmony with the island’s animals, but that doesn’t make the sentiments of the story any less true. It is a film that empathises with its characters and wants to showcase humanity at its best, precisely through how these two complete opposites can come together and help each other survive an impossible situation.

The talents of Sally Hawkins and Cillian Murphy, who play Michael’s parents, sadly go underused due to the nature of the story, but Watanabe does a lot of heavy lifting in their place. Speaking in his native language, with no subtitles to help us understand his dialogue, we can still discern the emotions and anguish of the character through how he speaks, as well as how the animation enhances the character arcs. It’s a terrific voiceover performance that carries the pain and beauty of the story remarkably.

Kensuke’s Kingdom, despite its shortcomings, proves a resonant film precisely because of how much conviction it has in its themes. It’s a movie about companionship and solidarity; about empathy and redemption in the face of overwhelming distress. While it functions reasonably well as a magical-realist fantasy story about survival, it is precisely in its humanist beliefs where the movie’s merits can be best appreciated.

★★★

In UK cinemas 2nd August 2024 /Modern Films / Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, Raffey Cassidy, Aaron MacGregor / Dir. Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry / Modern Films / PG

Head to Modern Films website to find out what cinemas are screening the film.