At a time when the Indian film industry is just getting past copying Hollywood films and actually putting out mainstream movies with original concepts, the most original film leaps forth, Hanuman, India’s first world class animated feature film. I was awaiting this film with much excitement, but after viewing it, was a little disappointed in the animation department. Hold on, before you go start a riot, being an animator myself I have to comment on such things. The animation isnt world class at all, in fact it is equivalent to saturday morning toons, that were on air about ten years ago, Duck Tales, Gummie Bears ect. The lip sync of the dialogue is even worse, but at least its better than the Japanese Anime, in which the mouths only move up and down, but the Japanese know their animation, is some ways it surpasses even Hollywood. ( Please give the animators some classes on Lip sync, or send me an email, I will be happy to show them a few basic techniques : ). One can say ’’how can you compare animation of U.S. to India. Hollywood has been making animated movies for over 60 years’’. Yes my friend but take into account this film was made in the new millenium and a lot of technology is available today, even in Indian Production houses. Lets take Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), technically the first feature length animated film ever, (we animators know that it isn’t actually the first, but anywho) and take India’s Hanuman, you will still see the animation and effects were much better even then. Why is this? One thing I can say by seeing the latter is that the animators probably didn’t study or had little time studying the human anatomy and how the muscles and bones connect and work together. Another technique that is very helpful is squash and stretch. It is also essential when doing a world class animated film, is studying a live subject performing such actions and the animator would sit and make sketches making sure the animation is smooth and flowing. When an independent film is being made by one or two people this is forgivable, but when a whole studio is working on it, releasing it worldwide, backed by big production companies it is a different story. It’s not all bad news and most people don’t tend to look at such things anyway. One thing I can say is that the animators understand perspective really well, the background artwork is gorgeous and the music is great. in fact, the story and the music is what really saves this film. The story unfolds from the conception of the Mythical super hero Hanuman to his journey with Lord Ram and the war with Ravan and his brothers. There is so much detail that is presented, often in quick segments, but one comes away with full understanding of Hanuman and his epic story. Kids are sure to love the cute baby Hanuman but I don’t know if they will sit through the whole film. Parents might have fun recognizing the story line and explaining it to their kids. What better story to be made into animation than Hanumans. I hope it only gets better, much better. Its great to see so many people respond to it positively but honest, insightful reviews are also helpful, so we can improve the animation medium and hope to see better animated films in the future. There is so much great Indian Mythology, animation can be a way to teach not only kids but people everywhere. Hanuman is a good start.