Sightlines · reception

How Princes and Princesses was received

2000 · Michel Ocelot · Princes and Princesses on Sightlines

The arc

Slipped out quietly in 2000 — essentially a big-screen rescue of TV work Ocelot had made a decade earlier — riding the surprise success of Kirikou. It's since become one of his most quietly treasured films, the deep cut fans push on anyone who stopped at Kirikou.

What’s debated

As with any anthology, the fan conversation is really a ranking exercise — everyone has their favorite of the six tales, and nobody agrees which one it is.

Its footprint

Its all-silhouette look became an Ocelot signature — he returned to the exact format a decade later with Tales of the Night — and the film's paper-cutout princes kissing against glowing backdrops are catnip for animation GIF and screenshot accounts.

Where it stands

A cult object among animation lovers: the 'if you liked Kirikou, now watch this' recommendation that keeps finding new admirers on Letterboxd.

Did you know? It isn't really a 'new' 2000 film at all — it compiles six episodes of Ciné si, a silhouette-animation series Ocelot made for French TV in 1989, finally given a theatrical release after Kirikou and the Sorceress became a hit.