Film Preview - Muhammad: The Last Prophet

One of the fun things about my job is that I get to preview advance copies of films before they're even released to the public. One such film is Muhammad: The Last Prophet, coming to DVD from MPI Media Group on May 27th, 2008. Considering that Islamic faith is such a politically controversial topic these days, prone to engendering some ugly and unnecessary stereotypes, I admit that I felt a bit of trepidation when I opened the prettily designed case and popped the DVD in. I couldn't help but wonder how such a sensitive topic would be handled in an animated film.

While the subject was handled with some grace, I can't say the same about the CGI. The merger of hand-drawn and computer-generated animation is a delicate process, one that has to be handled with subtlety and care, and the clear dichotomy between the beautifully drawn character animations and the obviously digitally composited and rendered backgrounds and camera movements made for a rather jarring contrast even if the settings were quite well designed. They almost, almost hit the mark, but fell just a little short. The 3D animation in the opening titles was a little rough and overused as well, and felt a touch unnecessary. The character designs are quite nice, though; it's too bad the voice acting doesn't entirely measure up to them - although believe me when I say that I've heard far worse, and this wasn't unforgivable. The 2D animation is smooth, professional, well-done, suited for theatrical release. It's too bad we don't see more of it rather than camera movements across still images while a narrator tells parts of the story. It was done for a reason out of respect for certain tenets of the Muslim faith, but it could have been handled more adroitly.

The story was interesting enough to distract from that, though, and all in all it was an entertaining 95 minutes that didn't feel at all wasted. Is the movie a blockbuster hit? No. The target demographic is too narrow to hold wide appeal, but it's a very interesting and educational representation of a topic that normally receives a rather slanted representation in most English-speaking presentations. I learned something, anyway, although it stretched a little long and ran heavy on the repeated rhetoric - but considering the genre, that's to be expected, and it was tempered by welcome moments of humor and a lovely, moving soundtrack by award-winning composer William Kidd. I think that an animated film to explain the history of Muhammad and Islam is a good choice, because the prevalent attitude towards the overall wholesomeness of animation helps to dispel immediate negative assumptions to leave the viewer with a more open and accepting mind. The historical accuracy may not be perfect, and of course the storytelling is exaggerated for the sake of an animated tale...but it's a good start, and despite using the "safer" vehicle of animation, the animators still weren't afraid to depict some rather emotionally charged events while maintaining good taste.

It's a brave and ambitious film, overall, and it's a good family film for those seeking to educate their children on other faiths.