64
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceSherilyn ConnellyVillage VoiceSherilyn ConnellyBeautifully animated and often moving.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriThe patient storytelling and the elegant and colorful hand-drawn animation combine to give the film a pleasing, picture-book-like quality that should appeal to kids; there’s something very old-school about the film’s aesthetic. But in some senses, it also feels like a blast of fresh air, not the least because of where, and on whom, it chooses to place its focus.
- 70The DissolveTasha RobinsonThe DissolveTasha RobinsonEverything about the way this story is rendered makes it feel much bigger than the characters and their limited travails can make it.
- 70The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldZarafa may not be the most groundbreaking feat of storytelling, but it does have a giraffe in a balloon.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerUsing a wide-ranging color palette that shifts from the warmer hues of the Sahara desert to the colder, sadder blues and grays of old-time Paris, Lie and his team provide a pared-down animation technique that recalls classic Disney, albeit with a rougher, at times abstract touch.
- 70VarietyBoyd van HoeijVarietyBoyd van HoeijWhile the gorgeous widescreen landscapes have a pencil-and-aquarelle quality, the characters themselves are literally rougher-edged, a clever reminder of the hand-drawn, sketchlike quality of traditional animation.
- 40EmpireEmpireThe film veers from quasi-real to cartoonily silly and scenes either drag or whirl by too fast.
- 40Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonTime Out LondonTom HuddlestonZarafa never pauses for breath, rattling from one hasty, perfunctory sequence to another.