Let's Watch This: "Zambezia" (2012)

What if I told you that there was a movie that featured Koda from Brother Bear, the Dude, Mr. Spock, Frozone, Flo from Cars, Winnie the Pooh, Ludwig Von Drake and Babs Bunny - among others - in its cast? Well, such a movie exists. And it's called Zambezia.

Zambezia was made by Triggerfish Animation Studios, who was also responsible for another movie that I plan on reviewing at some point, Khumba. At first glance, you might assume that it's just yet another Rio mockbuster. But it actually has very few similarities aside from the fact that its main character is a blue bird. Is it as good as Rio? No. But is it still a good movie? Let's find out!

The movie begins not by introducing the characters and setting up the storyline but rather by plunging us right into the action without warning. We see a stork with another bird and some eggs on her back being pursued by marabou storks. The stork promises the other bird that she'll get them to Zambezia, and then...

We suddenly cut to this, accompanied by soothing African music.

Talk about Mood Whiplash...

We see a blue falcon named Kai (voiced by Jeremy Suarez) flying around a herd of giraffes. He winds up flying into one's rear end (which is a pretty cringe-worthy joke). His dad (Samuel L. Jackson) comments that his landing wasn't very good, to which Kai says, "You can't just shout things at me while I'm in the zone!" His dad says, "Is that the TWILIGHT Zone?"

Don't ask me how a bird in Africa knows about The Twilight Zone.

So, apparently the dad falcon is training Kai to be a great flyer or whatever. However, Kai is kind of a show-off and doesn't take the training too seriously.

Samuel L. Jackson Bird is not having any of your bullcrap.

The dad falcon tells Kai that someday, he's gonna have to look after himself because no one else will be there... oh, great, they're gonna pull a Delhi Safari and bump off the dad, aren't they? Kai complains that he's never set talon outside the boundary. The dad falcon says that there's no reason to, they've already got everything that they need to survive.

After the dad falcon flies off, the stork from before (voiced by Jennifer Lewis) makes a clumsy landing in the falcons' nest. She and the other bird (voiced by Tania Gunadi) explain that they are on a mission to save the babies from thieving bandits like those marabou storks. They're going to Zambezia. "There's no safer place in all of Africa!" the other bird exclaims. I initially thought the eggs that they had were the other bird's, but actually they're ducklings.

Kai tells them that they can spend the night, and then we cut to the dad falcon talking to a feather that I guess is from his mate. He's telling the feather that his son wants to head out there and see other birds. He's a free spirit, just like his mate. He flies off, and then we cut to the stork singing for some reason. She refers to the ducklings as "future Hurricanes" - the "Hurricanes" apparently control the skies, keeping Zambezia safe. Kai thinks that being a Hurricane would be awesome. "Can anybody go to Zambezia?" he asks the stork. The Jennifer Lewis stork says yes, yes they can. All birds are welcome there, except for those scoundrels the marabou storks... who just so happen to show up.

"Hi, we're the marabou storks! We're kind of like the Hyenas from The Lion
King, except not as cool."

One of the marabous speaks with a British accent, and the other acts... well, a wild animal. The British marabou (voiced by Richard E. Grant) is all, "We want what's in the basket!" and the Jennifer Lewis stork is all "Oh HECK no!" She and Kai fight the marabous, and then the dad falcon shows up. Long story short, the British marabou stork's brother winds up falling out of the nest, and despite the father falcon trying to save him winds up landing in the river. The British marabou is horrified and blames the father falcon, exclaiming "You raptors are all the same! Just HUNGRY! We ALL are! As if we marabous don't suffer enough!" Ah, so we're going for a "sympathetic antagonist" sort of thing for the marabous, eh? I wasn't expecting that. Major props.

The British marabou flies off yelling about how the father falcon will "pay for this", and it turns out that the Jennifer Lewis stork knows the father falcon. The father falcon dubs her and the other bird (remember her?) "strangers", and they get offended and leave.

We haven't had a screencap of Kai yet, so here's one now.

Kai asks his dad if he knew about this Zambezia place. "All these years and you've never told me?" he demands. The father falcon claims that he has his reasons... mainly, doing what's best for Kai. Kai is all, "That's bullcrap! I've got no life here! We should ditch this place and go to Zambezia!" Father falcon snaps, "Let me tell you how it works in Zambezia! The strong, like us, protect the weak! And who suffers in the end? WE DO! Trust me, you don't know what you're talking about..." Kai replies, "Yeah, well, I'll tell you what I DO know! That there's more to life than YOU, and your FENCES and your BOUNDARY! There's a whole world outside of here, too!"

The dad falcon says that he'll never go back to Zambezia. Kai is all, "Well, you can go suck an egg because I'm going there!" and flies off. He winds up hitching a flight with some Indian-accented storks. That night, the dad falcon decides to go after him. Meanwhile, the British marabou stork is still bummed out what happened to his brother. His fourth-cousin once-removed tries to cheer him up, and then the film's villain arrives.

He's a big monitor lizard named Budzo, voiced by Jim Cummings. The father falcon just so happens to be flying by, and upon spotting Budzo decides to do a little eavesdropping. Budzo is pulling a Scar and using the marabous' hunger to his advantage. He's all, "How is it fair that you guys are scavengers while the birds in Zambezia eat like kings?!"

"Stick with me, and you'll never go hungry again!"

"Think of all you have been denied for so long..." the big lizard snarls. "Good food, good nest. It's time for you to take the empire for yourself... to rule Zambezia!" Have I ever mentioned how awesome Jim Cummings is?

The British stork - his name is Cecil, by the way - likes the sound of Budzo's offer, but his fourth-cousin is more apprehensive. "I'll just take my cut a small share of the spoils..." Budzo says. "After all, how many eggs can a lizard eat? Get all the Marabous together. You tell them they'll be working nights."

Then Budzo attacks the dad falcon, though I don't know how he found out he was there. It turns out that the dad falcon's name is Tendai, and the scene cuts to black just as the lizard has him cornered...

And then we cut to Kai with the storks. I guess we're gonna have to wait and see what happened with Tendai and Budzo.

"I believe I can fly..."

They arrive in Zambezia, which as it turns out isn't so much a city as it is a big tree with a bunch of birds' nests in it. The Jennifer Lewis stork just so happens to be arriving at the same time, and her landings haven't gotten any better.

There's also a parrot that sounds like Hermes from Futurama.

After Kai makes his way around Zambezia encountering other birds, we cut to another Zambezia resident - an African fish-eagle named Chief Sekhuru (this movie's really going to town on the African bird species, isn't it? Where else have you seen an African fish eagle in an animated movie?) and his daughter Zoe (voiced by Leonard Nimoy and Abigail Breslin respectively). They're informed that a newcomer has arrived, which intrigues Sekhuru as it's been a while since they've had a falcon in Zambezia. Zoe says that he's probably here for the Hurricane tryouts tomorrow... not that she wants to be a Hurricane, of course. Then the Jennifer Lewis stork comes in and is all, "I bet you'll never guess who I just saw!" "Is it Tendai?" Sekhuru asks. How does he know? Because his son just arrived. How does he know that the new falcon is Tendai's son? I have no idea. "Young Kai may be here looking for some answers..." says Sekhuru. I think I'm going to like this Sekhuru guy. He's got sort of a Master Oogway-ish vibe to him.

Oh, and spoiler alert: Zoe is for all intents and purposes Kai's love interest.

Kai, meanwhile, finds himself sharing a nest with several other birds. I'm pretty sure one of them is voiced by Tom Kenny.

"I'm surrounded by idiots..."

The next morning, Kai is woken up by a bird named Ezee (Jamal Mixon), who tells him that he's taking him on a tour of Zambezia. "Time to meet the town... the EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZEE WAY!" he announces. After a montage, Kai meets Zoe, who upon learning that Kai has befriended Ezee snaps, "Just what we need. Another Ezee!" Kai finds himself the object of affection of two stereotypical valley girl birds, but he's not interested - he has the hots for Zoe. Then he finally sees these Hurricanes that we've heard so much about.

There are so many screencaps in this film that could totally be memes...

Ah yes, and Ezee tells Kai that in Zambezia, they don't say "amazing", they say "Ah-mah-ZING!"

Uh, okay...

Now let's cut back to the Marabous. Cecil is giving a speech to his fellow storks: "When those Zambezians flocked together, they created an INSIDE and an OUTSIDE! And if you haven't noticed, WE are on the OUTSIDE! The cold, lonely, desolate OUTSIDE! And why?! Because they didn't like the look of us!" I gotta admit, he's got a point. However, the Marabous aren't fully convinced that they should team up with Budzo. "Since when are Marabous servants to a lizard?" one of them asks. Cecil says that they'll be working WITH Budzo, not FOR him. Another Marabou asks, "Could those Hurricanes be a problem?" I have a question too: why are all the Marabous British?

The Marabous start beating each other up, and then we cut back to Kai and Ezee. Kai finds out that Hurricane Tryouts are today. The leader of the Hurricanes, a big lammergeier (look it up) voiced by Jeff Goldblum, tells him that he's not on his list and that there can be no new entrees after the tryouts begin... but then realizes that he's actually right on time and tells him that he can try out.

How does a bird grow a mustache?

Actually, IS that a mustache? It looks like it could just be overly-long nose hair,
what with it sticking out of his nostril and all...

Kai has difficulty during the tryout (by the way, did I mention that like in Delhi Safari there are a lot of slow-motion shots in this movie?) but winds up making the cut... as a trainee. "It's gonna take more than a little race to become a full member of the most elite flying force in the world!" the Jeff Goldblum bird barks. "I got my eye on you, hot-rod..."

Meanwhile, we FINALLY cut back to Tendai. He's still alive, but he's in a cage. He tells Budzo that he's not a threat to him, but Budzo disagrees: "There is still some fight left in you. I can see it, even if you can not. Which is good. You need it," the lizard says. "You are going to be a great use..."

"Now, this is where the pigs have hidden all of our eggs. We're going to launch
ourselves out of a giant slingshot at them until they agree to give the eggs back."

"Why are we launching ourselves out of a giant slingshot?"

"Because shut up, THAT'S why!"

Back with Kai, he and the Hurricanes head out patroling for Marabou. They come across a lovebird (Tress MacNeille), who tells them that her mate Neville has floated down the river. Rescue mission time! Kai saves Neville (Corey Burton), impressing the Hurricanes. Ezee then shows up and acts incredibly annoying.

"I'm the film's comic relief character! Ergo I'm going to be either the best part of the
film or incredibly annoying! And guess which one I am!"

Then it's time for Zambezia's Annual Spring Celebration, where the birds celebrate future generations of Zambezia. Alas, the Marabous attack, kidnapping some birds and bringing them to Budzo so he can threaten to eat Tendai unless the captured birds let him onto the island. How much are you willing to bet that after they do he's going to eat Tendai anyway?

Sekhuru tells the other Zambezians that he never thought the Marabous were capable of such devious acts. "Maybe there's a bigger plan here..." he suggests.

Hey, ANOTHER screencap that could be a potential meme!

The Jeff Goldblum bird gives Kai the job of clean-up duty before he and the Hurricanes head out to save the kidnapped birds. Kai meets up with Ezee, who's ticked-off because earlier Kai didn't stick up for him when he was getting pushed around by the Jeff Goldblum bird, but all Kai has to do is give him free food and all is forgiven.

"No, I do NOT look like Owl from Winnie the Pooh during his awkward teen
years!"

Then Kai comes up with a plan - to sneak out at night (Ezee has night vision) to save the kidnapped birds. While they're flying off, they run into Zoe, who tries very hard to deny that she wants to be a Hurricane. Eventually, they're able to find the Marabous and do a little eavesdropping of their own.

Cecil's fourth-cousin asks him if they can trust Budzo. Cecil replies, "I've come too far to turn back now!" Zoe suggests that they call the Hurricanes, but Kai wants to go in there and defeat those evil Marabous himself. Ezee then gets attacked by something and faints. Zoe decides to fly off and get help, leaving Kai to wait with Ezee.

Then we cut back to Tendai in the cage, watching the kidnapped birds being forced to build some sort of grass structure.

They're pretty good at building for an animal that doesn't have fingers...

Tendai tells the Tania Gunadi bird to fly out as soon as she gets the chance, leaving him there. Tania Gunadi bird says, "That's not how we do things where I come from - where YOU come from! We'll figure out a way to escape. All of us!"

Budzo comes in and tells Cecil and his fourth-cousin that he has a "special job" for them. Then Tania Gunadi tells Tendai that Kai and the rest of the Hurricanes are out looking for them. In response, Tendai asks, "My son... a Hurricane?"

We then get a Gilligan Cut to the Jeff Goldblum bird telling Kai that he will never be a Hurricane. "Since you clearly have no concept of what a team is, you can not be part of ours!" he says. He's so angry that he's not even going to listen to what Kai has to say.

Somebody get this bird an electric nose hair trimmer.

Cecil and his fourth-cousin invade, but Kai either doesn't realize it or doesn't care because he's too busy checking up on Ezee and getting into an argument with Zoe to do anything about it. He's so down about what happened, in fact, that he's planning on leaving Zambezia. The Jennifer Lewis stork tells him that he can't go, Zambezia needs him, but Kai just says, "Zambezia and me don't mix. My dad was right, I never belonged here." This doesn't matter to the Jennifer Lewis stork, who simply grabs Kai and flies off.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are chasing after the Marabous... but that's just what the Marabous WANT them to do! They're luring them into a trap!

"Not bad for a couple of dopey villains' henchmen, huh?"

The Jennifer Lewis stork brings Kai to Sekhuru and begs him to just tell Kai "the story". With a sigh, Sekhuru admits, "Perhaps it is time." Time for Kai to learn the truth, that is. As it turns out, Kai was born in Zambezia - not only that, but his parents founded the Hurricanes to guard Zambezia and offer protection to all the birds in the River Valley (except Marabous, apparently).

Then we immediately cut back to Tendai and Budzo. As it turns out, Budzo ate Tendai's wife (well, he doesn't straight-up say that he ate her, but I think that's supposed to be the implication). He tells the kidnapped birds to keep it up, for "we are going to make this valley into one big egg omelet!" That's kind of a cheesy line, but Jim Cummings' delivery makes it much cooler than it has any right to be.

Cut back to Kai and Sekhuru. Sekhuru explains that they came upon a nest under attack by the big lizard, and despite how bravely Kai's mother fought she wound up a lizard's lunch. They managed to save one egg that day... specifically, Zoe. Tendai was so depressed that he made Sekhuru promise to never tell anyone that he was once a Hurricane. "Tendai could no longer see the value in Zambezia," Sekhuru admits, "Only the cost..."

I honestly don't have a funny caption here, but I didn't want to go three paragraphs
without a screencap.

Then Kai figures out that Budzo and the Marabous are in cahoots - they have to go back to that forest and find them! So off Kai, Zoe and the Jennifer Lewis stork go. They come across some lizard tracks and follow them to where Budzo is holding the birds captive. The Tania Gunadi bird tells him that Budzo forced them to make a bridge that'll let him into Zambezia - and that he and the Marabous already left. Kai is then reunited with his dad and frees him while the Jennifer Lewis stork goes to town on a pair of Marabou.

By the time Kai, Tendai, and the other birds arrive, the bridge is up already. I'm amazed that it can support Budzo's weight. Cecil realizes that Zambezia is crawling with iguanas - and this is what makes him figure out that Budzo was using them. "You Marabous are just as naïve as Zambezians!" Budzo boasts.

Hey, uh, if anyone from Triggerfish Animation is reading this? Just a suggestion -
why not make a movie about dinosaurs? Budzo here already looks plenty like
a dinosaur, so I have faith in your ability to create awesome character designs
for dinosaurs.

Kai convinces Tendai to let the Marabous help - "Zambezia is more than just a place! It's an idea!" he says. "The idea that all of us are important - even Marabous! If they are willing to help, they earn the right to live here too."

Hey, yet another screencap that could make a potential meme!

The birds on Zambezia all want to fly for it, but Kai gives another rousing speech. "When I first came here," he says, "I thought I could do everything myself. And then I saw what Zambezia was all about! If we all stick together, and we do our part, we can win this thing!" Budzo, meanwhile, is approaching the nesting area.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE'S BUDZO!"

Kai, Tendai and Sekhuru fight Budzo while the Marabous try to destroy the bridge and fight the iguanas (or at least hold them off). And the Hurricanes are still stuck in that net, but fortunately Zoe finds them. The other birds do their part to fight Budzo as well, with the Hurricanes offering the Marabous some assistance in destroying the bridge. The combined forces of all those birds eventually manage to take out Budzo, sending him flying into the waters below... but he's taking Zoe with her! Kai, fortunately, manages to save her. Whether or not Budzo survived is left ambiguous, but monitor lizards can swim, so I'd say the chances are pretty big. But presumably he won't be bothering the Zambezians anymore (unless they ever make a sequel).

So all's well that ends well. Kai and Cecil's cousin are part of the Hurricanes, the Marabous are accepted, everybody parties, and Tendai dances awkwardly. The end.

It's Carnival in Zambezia!

I was pleasantly surprised by Zambezia. It's not a GREAT movie, but there's a lot to like about it. The voice actors all do a good job (especially Jim Cummings), the animation is pretty solid, and I really like how they handled the Marabou storks - it honestly felt like how The Lion King should've handled the hyenas. It does have its problems... Ezee and the valley girl birds can get kind of annoying, for one thing... but all in all, I'd say it's pretty solid. If you'd like to give it a watch, you can probably find it on DVD somewhere.

Next time on "Let's Watch This"... well, I don't wanna give away what we'll be watching, but I'll give you a hint: it's stop-motion. That's it. That's all you're getting.