It's not every day that we talk about movies for a children's audience, let alone when it comes from Canada. Katak, the brave beluga was presented at the Annecy festival and is currently visible in theatre throughout France. At the end of this article, you will bet that you will have learned a riddle of words about marine fauna and flora before taking your offspring to the cinema. We bet?
Katak on the road to Nemo
Katak is a beluga, you know these white cephalopods with this peculiarity that their head presents a pocket of fat that is called melon, a soft protuberance that sometimes gives the impression that the unhappy have no skull. Katak is a calf, or more precisely a bluish as they say in ketologist jargon. Only flat, the bull still hasn't lost his grey dress unlike those other cousins. A little frustrated, the petiot, early, is in a hurry to become adult. After having exchanged with his grandmother over these old days, he decided to leave alone to find his former partner one night gone to southern lands. Ah, these beluga robberies...
If one recognizes a formula that is not without reminding Pixar and that good old Nemo who has allowed a whole generation in short panties to discover clown fish, Katak has the peculiarity of taking place in the St. Lawrence estuary, this great Canadian river that covers a remarkable fauna and flora. Behind an unsurprising animated film for the regulars of the genre, director Christine Dallaire-Dupont has an unmasked educational goal. Clearly, Katak seeks to raise awareness among young spectators about ecology and marine preservation while paying tribute to the majestic location. On this side, the film ticks all the boxes with intelligence. In this way, we will meet many of the animals of the vintage, from the famous killer whales to the narwhals, sturgeon, geese, macareux and j'en passe, something to delight the lovers of Quebec.
Me, the sea, she took me.
Unfortunately the film does not completely succeed its bet of bringing together small and large, the fim being clearly reserved for a very young audience and the fault for a writing that lacks madness. There was no doubt that there was a way to free up a little bit of action with the big bad guy in the movie who isn't so mean: Jack-Knife, a legendary killer whale that would have decimated many Katak congeners and ransacked with her vegetarian daughter. Even for a very young audience, we would have liked a little more punch on that side to inflate the narrative stakes and the audience's involvement. The jokes also remain wise. This long journey to the ice pack takes more of the air of mouth than of the fighter's journey. Of course, we are not in Dragon Ball But the few fights convince little, it's a shame. Pixar's famous sharks were more credible while remaining funny.
The animation remains more summary, budget obliges, than mega productions Pixar while remaining efficient. We warn you in advance, do not expect to hear belugas speaking Quebec, despite the origin of the film: the original version preserves Molière's language with a labial synchronization that also lacks some peps to match the emotions of the characters. The passages in aerial view, however, make it possible to appreciate the graphic foot of the film which sometimes recalls watercolour and these are perhaps the most successful plans. Finally, unlike fish, cetaceans are mammals that remind them, must come out regularly. An idea that finds some original apnea situations but that could have been pushed a little further in my opinion, especially when a bench of beluga is trapped by the Savsaat, these ice holes that close by freezing cold.
A film against ocean exploitation
If we ignore these few flaws, Katak remains a good gateway to educate young people about the preservation of the marine environment. The film does not fail to denounce particularly contemporary subjects such as the noise pollution which hinders the reproduction of many species, condemned to disappearance or forced migration, which must be greeted at a time when our president spends every summer promoting jet ski and other beauties, well barricaded in Brégançon. The film also shows the precarious nature of marine life, whose protection depends closely on the protection of protected areas and other reserves. Of course. Katak lack of boldness and fairyry to get among the heavyweights of the Disney home genre, but he might well seduce the youngest for a first experience in the cinema today for his release in the theater. A little love in this world of brutes would not hurt in the times that run.
Ha ha thank you for the passage on the jet ski which made me smile ^^. It's unfortunately so true... In any case happy to see that the ecological cause is increasingly represented in cinema or elsewhere. It may eventually change people's behavior...
I couldn't stop it, it's stronger than me sometimes, even when I'm talking about beluga! ^^^
You make me want to see him so much, obviously he doesn't go out at home, but I'll take a look at him when he's in physical format!