Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1993)

The evil king Ravana has his heart set on the kingdom of Ayodhya and his opportunity to sow the seeds of mayhem comes when he manages to kidnap the beloved wife of the recently manipulated and exiled prince "Ram". Distraught, he and his brother "Lakshman" determine to rescue her and what now ensues is a wonderfully executed animated adventured packed with myth and legend, mystical monsters, swash and buckle, romance, tragedy, politics - indeed just about everything that you'd expect from an Indian epic (with quite a lot of stunning Japanese creative investment). The style of the drawing is not especially detailed, but it is vivid, colourful and flows perfectly from scenes of isolation and intensity to the grand battle scenarios and a flying chariot (that reminded me a little of the "Thief of Bagdad" from 1940). The story itself is the stuff to make Machiavelli blush - intrigues, betrayal and treachery all feature as "Ram" has to thwart the evil ambitions of his nemeses - and the powerful "Ravana" isn't his only one of these! The score has a slightly classical style to it that works well with rich string arrangements assisting the artwork to do a fair degree of the heavy lifting and helping keep the dialogue from rambling. It's 2¼ hours long, but it flew by in an exciting and enjoyable fashion that illustrated the depth and richness of a culture that has legend a-plenty to enthral and entertain.