‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ Review – Striking Animation That Plays It Safe

Kensuke’s Kingdom is based on the 1999 children’s novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo. There are a few key differences between the animated film and the book. The most notable aspect of the story that is completely left out of the film is that Kensuke’s wife and son are revealed to still be alive in the novel’s epilogue.

The animated adventure film is directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry. Boyle and Hendry collaborated on a couch gag from a 2014 episode of The Simpsons and Boyle has solo animation credits on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam, Tom & Jerry (2021), and the season one episode “Zima Blue” from Love, Death & Robots.

If you’re a fan of animation, then how Kensuke’s Kingdom looks is what likely reeled in your interest. On-screen characters, whether they’re human or animal, are animated traditionally. But the backgrounds are so detailed that they look realistic. Often, if you’re looking at waves crashing on the beach or the wind blowing through the trees in the jungle, the painted layers almost look genuine. The textures are intricate, while the use of shadows and lighting effortlessly add exquisite life to every frame of the film.

There’s a sequence where Michael’s dad (voiced by Cillian Murphy) and his sister Becky (voiced by Raffey Cassidy) are on night watch. The sea is calm and it’s the middle of the night. They’re drifting in the ocean completely secluded from the bright lights of a busy city or any population. The night sky is bursting with stars like this never-ending twinkling blanket that you wouldn’t be able to see unless you chose to sail around the world with your family.

The screenplay is written by Frank Cottrell Boyce whose writing credits include Goodbye Christopher Robin and The Railway Man. Without ever reading the book, judging the film at face value is the only option. The issue with a film involving a character getting shipwrecked on an island can only end one of two ways: either they spend the rest of their life on the island or get rescued.

But the British animated film plays it safe in how it’s written. 11-year-old Michael (voiced by Aaron MacGregor) arrives on the island with his dog Stella. Stella had been smuggled aboard the family’s yacht and Michael had gone to retrieve her during a bad storm. After not knowing how to properly survive on his own, Michael awakes to find food and water provided for him. The provider is an older Japanese man named Kensuke (voiced by Ken Watanabe) who doesn’t speak much English.

Kensuke is rough on Michael at first, seemingly not wanting to be friends or be held accountable for him, but the two grow closer as the film progresses. While Michael is trying to signal for help by writing in the sand and lighting fires, Kensuke thwarts Michael’s attempts as he doesn’t want to be found. Kensuke was drafted to the Japanese Navy in World War II and is from Nagasaki. The atomic bomb not only resulted in Kensuke’s arrival on the island but also seemingly wiped out his family in the process. The animals on the island, specifically the orangutans, are what Kensuke considers his family now.

Michael’s strained relationship with Kensuke which eventually evolves into a close bond is the film’s driving factor. Conflict is introduced in the form of three hunters arriving to handpick the island’s wildlife. But otherwise, Kensuke’s Kingdom plays out pretty much as expected. It’s odd that the book erases Kensuke’s most intriguing aspect and chooses to reveal it after he’s died.

The film illustrates that it’s also important to create art with your hands. Michael is responsible for the ship log for his family. He chronicles his family’s adventures with hand-drawn illustrations. Meanwhile, Kensuke passes the time by painting with a bamboo paintbrush. The Nagasaki reveal is done through his illustrations via bleeding ink and ink drops to represent the bomb dropping.

Kensuke’s Kingdom is a straightforward animated film with little room for surprises. The character animation seems purposely flat so that the elaborate backgrounds pop with rich detail and eye-catching color. The film is so visually complex that it’s kind of heartbreaking that its writing is so flat.