Khan Kluay

Infobox Film
name = Khan Kluay


caption = Thai movie poster.
director = Kompin Kemgumnird
producer =
writer =
starring =
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Kantana Animation
Sahamongkol Film International
released = May 18, 2006
runtime =
country = Thailand
language = Thai
budget = 150 million baht
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.khankluay-themovie.com/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0815890

"Khan Kluay" (Thai: ก้านกล้วย; IPA2|kankluːaj) is a 2006 Thai computer-animated feature film set during Ayutthaya-era Siam about an elephant who wanders away from his mother and eventually becomes the war elephant for King Naresuan.

Plot

When Khan Kluay is born, his grandmother notes that his back is "gently sloped like a banana stalk ... I suppose that is what I should name you". "Khan kluay" is Thai for "banana stalk".

As a young elephant, Khan Kluay is taunted by the other elephants because he is fatherless. Naturally, Khan Kluay is curious about his father, and he's told that his father is a war elephant for the king.

So Khan Kluay wants to find his father. Still a young elephant, he wanders off to begin his search. He is soon captured by a Burmese raiding party. In trying to escape from the Burmese camp, the young elephant is befriended by a Siamese boy prince, Naresuan, who has been ransomed to the Burmese. Naresuan has the ability to calm Khan Kluay into thinking clearly, and Khan Kluay makes his escape.

A weakened Khan Kluay then comes upon a village where humans and elephants are working together. He is befriended by a young elephant cow, Chaba-Kaew, but is then chained up until he is tamed. Khan Kluay soon learns to value the humans who have captured him. Under the training of a wise, old mahout, he becomes bigger and stronger.

A local warlord comes around annually to collect tax from the village, and his taxes have become greedier each year. The village rebels, and with the humans and elephants working together, the warlord and his beasts are defeated.

The call then goes out from the king of Siam for elephants. Khan Kluay is taken to the palace. There, he is seen by his mother, who calls out to him. Khan Kluay goes wild in trying to break free from his chains to meet his mother. Naresuan notices this, and remembers Khan Kluay from his boyhood. The king is able to calm Khan Kluay, and from then on Khan Kluay serves as the personal war elephant of the king.

In battle, Khan Kluay meets a giant Burmese war elephant with fiery eyes that was responsible for the death of Khan Kluay's father, and Khan Kluay gets a chance to acquit himself in battle for the glory of the Siamese kingdom, and take revenge.

In the end, Khan Kluay avenges his father and kills the Burmese Elephant. After that, Khan is released to the wild to spend the rest of his life with the ones he loves.

Voice cast

* Anyarit Pitakkul as Khan Kluay (child)
* Nawarat Techarathanaprasert Chaba-Kaew (child)
* Phoori Hiranyapruk as Older Khan Kluay
* Worathaya Ninlakhooha as Older Chaba-Kaew
* Pongsak Hiranyapruk as Jitrit
* Nanthana Bunlong Saeng-daa
* Suthep Po-ngam as Mahout
* Channarong Khuntee-tao as leader of the Burmese
* Juree Ohsiri
* Koti Aramboy
*Miranda Cosgrove (American Version)
*Carl Reiner (American Version)
*Martin Short (American Version)

Production

"Khan Kluay" is directed by Kompin Kemgumnird, an animator who had worked on the Disney features as "" and" Tarzan", and Blue Sky Studios' "Ice Age".

Produced by Kantana Animation, it was the first Thai 3-D animated feature film to be released, and was also the first animated Thai feature to be released since 1979's "The Adventure of Sudsakorn", a cel-animated film by Payut Ngaokrachang.

"Khan Kluay" took three years to make and cost 150 million baht (about $3.9 million USD).

Release

"Khan Kluay" was released in Thai cinemas on May 18, 2006. It was the highest-grossing Thai film of 2006, taking in approximately 91 million baht at the box office.

The movie was shown to an audience of Asian elephants and their mahouts in an outdoor screening in Ayutthaya Province on June 6, 2006.

It was released in September 2008 on DVD in the United States as "The Blue Elephant."

Festivals and awards

* 2006 Thailand National Film Association Awards [http://www.thaicinema.org/news&scoops50_07awarde.asp Thai Film Awards this year] , ThaiCinema.org, 2007-02-28.]
**Best picture
**Best script
**Best score
**Best sound recording
* 2006 Golden Doll Awards
** Best score
** Best sound recording
* 2006 Bangkok Critics Assembly
** Best score
* 2006 Starpics Awards
** Best score
* 2006 Star Entertainment Awards
** Best picture
** Best score
* 2006 Animadrid, International Animation Festival, Spain
**Best Feature Film
* 2007 Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children
* 2007 Golden Elephant International Children's Film Festival
**Opening film [ [http://www.siasat.com/english/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=219861&Itemid=79&cattitle=Hyderabad 115 films on offer at film festival] , Siasat Daily; retrieved 2007-11-15]

American Release

The film was released in the US on September 2, 2008, under the Jim Henson Company and The Weinstein Company name. Like other foreign animated films like Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service and many others, this was released as a direct to video film. The film was also renamed The Blue Elephant for its American Release. The film was also redubbed with celebrity voice overs, including Martin Short, Miranda Cosgrove, and Carl Reiner.

Television series

An animated television series, "The Adventure of Khan Kluay", has been created by Kantana Animation Studio and is broadcast on BBTV Channel 7.

ee also

*List of animated feature films
*List of computer-animated films

References

External links

*
* [http://www.khankluay-themovie.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.thaicinema.org/reviews_20kankluay.asp Review at ThaiCinema.org]