Jumbo Movie Review

You need to look at an animation film differently. Let the kid in you come to the forefront when you watch one. At the same time, it's pertinent that every film, live or animation, should possess that grip to keep the viewer hooked to the proceedings for the next 2 hours.

Brimming with new genre of 'Animation', Bollywood has been striding on with its best efforts in churning out a perfect of its style. Well, note this down. Possibly, even a diehard fan of animation flicks wouldn't appreciate 'Jumbo' for it isn't so appealing. Perhaps, an Akshay Kumar's fan would go through similar-experiences.

Jumbo is interesting for its clichéd Hindi movie plot. While it may sound ironic, it is for this reason that the movie may do well with its young watchers. Jumbo (Akshay Kumar) is separated from his mother (Dimple Kapadia). This elephant, we are told, was son to a royal king elephant who lost his kingdom to the villain Bhaktavar (Gulshan Grover). So he grows up in the wild under the guidance of an uncle, falls in love with Sonia (Lara Dutta) and then is summoned back to his province to fight a war and win back his land. Without giving away the ending, it is easy to predict who wins the war.

JUMBO bears an uncanny resemblance to THE LION KING. You don't take to the film instantly, but it picks up towards the latter part when Jumbo is chosen by the king to fight the opponents. The animation isn't at par with the best [SHREK, THE LION KING, FINDING NEMO, the recent hit MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA], but the quality is better than some of the stuff we've witnessed in India.

Akshay Kumar is just narrator in the first half while takes on the characterization of Jumbo in the latter part. Voices of Dimple Kapadia and Lara Dutta are off mediocre while Gulshan Grover's voice sans intonation doesn't suit for the characterization. Overall, none of the voices are so sharper on modulation and you can call it 'imperfection'…

On the whole, JUMBO is a sweet, sincere and simple film that works. Who knows, it may spring a surprise this Christmas. Recommended for kids of all ages.

Movie Rating : **