Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (Roger Allers)

[Philip J. Fry]

http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/kahlil-gibrans-the-prophet-2015/large_966RjlMVcNc1gbJ9bdxjgH3s aQo.jpg

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwQbMxDcRGE

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640718/) / wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prophet_(2014_film)) / RT (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_prophet_2014/)

Official website (http://www.gibransprophetmovie.com/)

[Philip J. Fry]

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z73/Wolf_of_the_Winter/Screenshots/KahlilGibransTheProphet_zpsbqd sjjmh.jpg

Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.
Roger Allers, 2014*.

What did I like? All the segments with Gibran's poetry. They are augmented greatly with the animation, the music and Liam Neeson's voice and they're also a great introduction to each of the different artists rendering them and each is special in their own way. My favorites? Tomm Moore's On Love and Joann Sfar's On Marriage.

What didn't I like? Basically the problems I have with films like this one: the story is more an excuse to pass from poem to poem than it is to be, you know, a story. That gives us characters that feel thin, conflicts that feel undercooked and villains that feel more like cliches (to see another film with a similar problem, see Across The Universe). And worst, it makes each poem feel a little shoehorned and awkward.

Final thoughts: Great when it focus on the poems, meh when it doesn't. The story needed to either be discarded and show the poems as independent segments (like Fantasia) or be longer and more fleshed out, which not only would've made the characters more interested, but would've augmented each segment's power.

*It debuted in film festivals in 2014, but in cinemas in 2015.