Mune: Guardian of the Moon

Mune: Guardian of the Moon

French theatrical release poster
Directed by Alexandre Heboyan
Benoît Philippon
Produced by Dimitri Rassam
Aton Soumache
Alexis Vonarb
Written by Jérôme Fansten
Benoît Philippon
Starring Omar Sy
Izïa Higelin
Michaël Grégorio
Music by Bruno Coulais
Edited by Isabelle Malenfant
Production
company
On Animation Studios
Onyx Films
Kinology
Orange Studio
Distributed by GKIDS (USA)
Paramount Pictures (France)
Release dates
  • 6 December 2014 (2014-12-06) (Forum des images)
  • 14 October 2015 (2015-10-14) (France)
Running time
 86 minutes
Country France
Language English
French
Budget €14.1 million[1]
Box office $9.1 million[2]

Mune: Guardian of the Moon (French: Mune, le gardien de la lune) is a 2014 French 3D children's computer-animated adventure fantasy film directed by Benoît Philippon and Alexandre Heboyan and written by Jérôme Fansten and Benoît Philippon. Set it an imaginary world, this poetic tale tells the adventure of a small creature who must recover the Sun that was stolen by his fault. The film was made in computer graphics and 3D stereoscopy, and features the voices of Michael Gregorio, Omar Sy and Izïa Higelin.[3] The film premiered at Forum des images on 6 December 2014 and was theatrically released in France on 14 October 2015.

It earned $9.1 million on a €14.1 million budget. It also received nominations for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival for Cristal Award for Best Feature Film and the World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year for the film's music composer, Bruno Coulais (composer of Coraline and Song of the Sea). The film won the Young People's Jury Award at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival and the Best Film Award at the Tokyo Anime Awards.

Plot

In an imaginary world, a small Sun and Moon were made by the first Guardians to warm up a small planet inhabited by different marvelous people. The first Guardian of the Sun harpooned a star to keep it close to the planet, and hung it by chains to a mobile temple that is like a huge quadruped animal made of rock. The first Guardian of the Moon descended into the world of dreams and carved the Moon in a quarry of oneiric stones, and threw it into the sky. Since then, the Guardians follow generation after generation and preserve the harmony of the world. The people of the day and those of the night live in relative harmony, even though they are very different from each other. But in the depth of the planet, Necross awaits the opportunity to set darkness over the world.

The day is approaching when Sohone, the apprentice of Xolal, Guardian of the Sun and Leeyoon, the apprentice of the Guardian of the Moon will take over from their respective predecessors who are too old to carry out their tasks. On the day of their introduction, a young girl named Glim, who lives with her father at the border of day and night, comes to watch the introduction ceremony among the crowd. The light of the Sun accepts Sohone as planned, and he proudly parades in front of the girls. Leeyoon however is avoided by the lunar ewe that is responsible for choosing the Guardians. The ewe choses Mune instead, a carefree and shy little faun who is good at soothing people's dreams. On the following night an upset Leeyoon is visited by pale snakes who stir up his jealousy and advise him to pit Sohone against Mune. Meanwhile, Mune has troubles maneuvering the temple of the Moon correctly: the temple leaves its path and interferes with Sohone. But while Sohone leaves his temple to scold Mune, Necross sends his two imps to steal the Sun and bring it to him. Necross makes the Sun die off gradually. Night falls everywhere, plunging everyone into fear. A distressed Mune is banished from his own people, but he promises to fix his mistake. Sohone is not in a good place either, because it was his own absence that allowed the imps to steal the Sun.

They both set out on a quest to find the vanished Sun, accompanied by Glim. The latter is the most fragile of the three (her body of wax congeals when it gets too cold and is in danger of melting when it is too hot) but she is also the most educated, because she knows astronomy and has read the ancient stories of the world. Thanks to her, the group is able to pass the Great Blue Hole, a lake under which the great abyss opens that leads to the depths of the world. Glim is afraid that she will freeze and break in the cold water, but Mune comforts her and watches over her statue during the dive. After a few frights with an octopus, the group meets Phospho, an old Guardian of the Moon. He wakes Glim up and leads them to the entrance of the world of darkness, where Necross lives. Phospho tells them this story: Necross is an old Guardian of the Sun who attempted to keep the Sun for himself and who was hurled to the bottom of the world by Xolal, the predecessor of Sohone. But Phoshop gets angry and leaves them when Glim sheds light on his lies about his true role in the story for the world: Phospho, not as brave as he claimed, cowardly hid himself when Necross tried to capture the Sun.

Meanwhile, Leeyoon takes Mune's place in the temple of the Moon, but he can't control the temple. Under his watch, the Moon wanes and crumbles into dust. Deprived of its star, the temple goes mad and starts galloping everywhere. It ends up arriving in the underworld where Mune, Sohone, and Glim are. Mune, accompanied by Glim, takes care of the Moon while Sohone dives into the world of darkness to recover the Sun. Mune figures out that he can calm the temple of the Moon by using his sandman powers. Then, Leeyoon admits to him that the Moon is lost, but Mune decides to descend into the world of dreams to carve a new one. In the world of dreams, Mune and Glim are confronted by nightmares, Mune however dispels them with his powers. The two find the moon quarry and Mune carves a new crescent. Mune and Glim grow closer to each other and they realise they are in love, but they must launch the new Moon.

With this task done, Mune and Glim rejoin Sohone in the world of darkness. During this time, Sohone is surrounded by a mass of pale snakes who make fun of him and try to make him go mad with hatred, as Necross had done in the past. Sohone is saved by Phospho's intervention, who sacrifices himself to calm and free Sohone. Sohone, Mune and Glim then confront Necross and his imps. Sohone is going strongly against Necross, who he doesn't manage to weaken. Mune finally gets rid of one of the imps. Glim is not threatened by the other imp, called Spleen, who doesn't want to do evil and prefers to discuss gardening with her. Glim finds the Sun and blows on it to revive its fire, but that causes her to melt. Mune finally comes up with a way to defeat Necross: he sends him to sleep with his powers. In the world of dreams, Mune realises that Necross is influenced by a pale snake, which he then pulls out and crushes. Necross regains his Guardian of the Sun appearance he had before getting corrupted by envy.

Upon awakening, Mune finds that the world is now peaceful. The two young Guardians can resume the normal trajectories of their temples. However, Mune is saddened by Glim's death. He resculpts her and gives her a fragment of the Moon, but she doesn't revive so he leaves in tears. To his joy, the combined energy of the Sun and the Moon at daybreak allows Glim to wake up. Mune and Glim meet up and kiss each other before going around the world on the temple of the Moon.

Cast

French and English voice actors are listed.

Production

The original idea of the film was born with a project from writer Benoît Philippon, who planned to start a short live action film in an atmosphere inspired by Terry Gilliam movies: the story of a character who lives in a forest and wins the Moon, spearing it with a rope. The project soon proved to be unfeasible in a short format and Benoît Philippon started to turn it into a feature film project. He developed and created a more complex poetic universe with its own cosmogony and different inhabitants related to the Sun and the Moon.[4] The universe further formed with the contribution of Nicolas Marlet who designed the characters, and Aurelian Prédal, artistic director of the film. The human characters were designed as hybrids between human beings, animals and various materials. Mune is a woodland creature with fur and is related to the night; his shy and taciturn nature is inspired by the main character of Tim Buton's Edward Scissorhands film. Sohone is linked to the Sun and his body is made from amber; his "big mouth" personality is inspired by characters like Buzz Lightyear from Pixar's animated film Toy Story or Han Solo from Star Wars. Glim is made from wax which makes her fragile and endangered when she is exposed to sunlight, but it is an opportunity to show a character with a disability, struggling to compensate for it with her courage. The lord of evil Necross with his two imps, Mox and Spleen, are volcanoes, giving opportunity to work on lava and soot textures.[4] The script was co-written by Benoît Philippon and Jerome Fansten. He knows of several rewrites, including changes that were made while writing the storyboard for the visual development of the film that saw the birth of new ideas, including that of the mobile temples in the world of Mune. The stakes of the plot, defined very early, was the idea of characters going in search of the Sun like a Holy Grail. The challenge of the project was to develop a classic film understandable by a wide audience, including younger people, without sacrificing originality and the poetry of the world designed for Mune.[4] The film was directed mainly in CGI, except for some scenes about the past of the planet and those occurring in the world of dreams, which are made in 2D cartoon animation. Mune: Guardian of the Moon lists a fairly impressive crew, including but not limited to big names such as: Nicolas Marlet (Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon) as character designer, Hidetaka Yosumi (Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph) as character technical supervisor, Sebastian Bruneau (Hotel Transylvania) as animation supervisor, Aurelian Predal (A Monster in Paris, The Little Prince) as art director, Antoine Antin (The Illusionist) and David Berthier (Despicable Me) as storyboard artists, and Bruno Coulais (Coraline, Song of the Sea) as composer.

Music and soundtrack

The film’s original music was composed and orchestrated by Bruno Coulais (composer of Coraline and Song of the Sea). The soundtrack also contains “Happy” written and performed by C2C and Derek Martin. The soundtrack was released on October 16, 2015.

Release

It made its première at Forum des images on 6 December 2014. It made its North American premiere at the New York International Children's Film Festival on 14 March 2015. The film was part of the official selection at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2015.

The film was released in cinemas in France on 14 October 2015 by Paramount Pictures.

In France the day of its release, Wednesday, October 14, 2015, Mune: Guardian of the Moon had done relatively well in Paris with a startup to 457 entries in the day on 14 screens where the film is operated in the capital, which ranks fifth among films released that day. In the first week, the film 128 279 entries; after two weeks of operation, it accumulated €238.9 million. At the end of 2015, Mune: Guardian of the Moon combines 524,000 entries and is one of 100 French films attracted the most viewers in 2015.

Reception

During its release in France in October, 2015 Mune: Guardian of the Moon was well received by press critics. The main recognised qualities of the film are its aesthetics and its world, the latter considered poetic and original. In the French free daily 20 Minutes,[5] Caroline Vié speaks of "extraordinary aesthetics" and she believes that the film "surprises people constantly with its inventiveness." In Première,[6] Christopher Narbinne speaks about an "inventive aristic direction" and about "unique character designs". In L'Express,[7] Eric Libiot maintains that the film is "splendid and moving" and shows that "French animation is in a really good shape" with an "abitious" animation and a universe that "intermingles mythology, is universal and tries to remain open for all". In the women's magazine Elle,[8] Helena Villovith judges that "the poetic quality of the characters, the richness of the setting and the mood of the dreamlike sequences do not have to pale before classics such as Toy Story or Princess Mononoke." Critics are divided on the quality of the scripts: generally welcomed, it leaves some critics less convinced. In L'Express, Eric Libiot judges it "beautiful and intelligent"; he describes the scenario as "romantic" and appreciates that it "escalates to a progressive film" and that "the pace of it takes its time voluntarily". In Le Dauphiné Libéré,[9] Jean Serroy believes that it is all "very inventive in terms of characters and adventures, perfect for a family viewing". In Le Journal du dimanche,[9] Barbara Théate saw the film as a "story for toddlers, rich with wacky characters and fun twists". It is "an original work with sophistication" according to Philippe Lauguche from Quest France.[9] The Télérama[10] magazine considers it "magical and terrifically effective" under the pen of Guillemette Odicino, who recognises various influences: the faun Mune reminds him of the world of Luc Besson, Glim that of Tim Burton, while the marvelous creatures remind him of the films of Hayao Miyazaki and the paintings of Salvador Dali. In the film magazine Première, Christophe Narbonne recognises a certain poetry to the film, but finds the scenario "very formal" and he thinks that it does not live up to its aesthetics. In her generally positive review for Elle, Helena Villovitch regrets that "the only girl's role is decorative, fluttering her eyelashes and admiring the prowess of males who get promoted to positions of responsibility." The film was latter submitted as one of the 27 animated feature films in the race for the Best Animated Feature for the 89th Academy Awards.[11]

Accolades

Award / Film Festival Category Recipients and nominees Result
Annecy International Animated Film Festival Cristal Award for Best Feature Film Nominated
TIFF Kids International Film Festival Young People's Jury Award Won
Tokyo Anime Award Best Film Award Won
World Soundtrack Award Soundtrack Composer of the Year Bruno Coulais Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "Mune Le gardien de la lune". JP's Box-Office.
  2. ↑ "Mune, le gardien de la lune". Box Office Mojo.
  3. ↑ "Mune". Cineuropa.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mune press kit with Beonit Philippon" (PDF).
  5. ↑ ""Mune, le gardien de la lune": Une histoire magique et animée". 20minutes.fr. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  6. ↑ "Mune : le Gardien de la Lune : Critiques | Films | Premiere.fr". www.premiere.fr. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  7. ↑ "Mune, le gardien de la Lune, magnifique et touchant". LExpress.fr. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  8. ↑ "Mune le gardien de la lune : film réalisé par Alexandre Eboyan - Elle". www.elle.fr (in French). Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  9. 1 2 3 AlloCine. "Mune, le gardien de la lune: Les critiques presse". AlloCiné. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  10. ↑ "Mune, le gardien de la Lune". www.telerama.fr. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  11. ↑ "27 Animated Features Submitted 2016 Oscar Race". www.oscars.org. Retrieved 2016-11-12.

External links

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