Princes and Princesses · reception & legacy

How Princes and Princesses has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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 favourite 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.