Khumba: A Zebra’s Tale Review

Khumba: A Zebra's Tale
Half-stripped zebra Khumba (Austin) is booted - hooved? - out of its herd. Faced with exile, he sets off to find itself and win back a place among its nearest and dearest.

by Olly Richards |
Published on
Release Date:

11 Apr 2014

Running Time:

85 minutes

Certificate:

U

Original Title:

Khumba: A Zebra’s Tale

While the animation is beautiful, there’s not much to be said for the storytelling of this animal tale. Khumba (voiced by Jake T. Austin) is a zebra born with only half his markings. Mocked by his herd, he heads off on a quest to find a “magic pool” that will give him the stripy bum of which he dreams. That journey is tediously linear, with very little sub-plot and quite weak gag-writing, and the ending is a confusing mélange of prophecies and epiphanies that don’t add up to whole lot of sense. Like its hero, this zebra’s tale seems unfinished and in need of some better lines.

A flavourless concoction that tries to tap into the storytelling of a Madagascar or Lion King but falls well short of the humour and pathos of either.
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