AllMovie

Animator Jean-Christophe Lie (Triplets of Belleville) and director Rémi Bezançon (A Happy Event) team up for this family friendly adventure following a young boy and an orphaned giraffe on an incredible journey. Inspired by the true-life story of the Egyptian Pasha who bestowed the gift of a giraffe to King Charles X of France, this animated film opens to find an elderly man telling the tale of a 10-year-old boy named Maki who escapes a life of slavery, and befriends a motherless baby giraffe named Zarafa. When Maki learns that the Pasha has instructed Hassan, Prince of the Desert to deliver Zarafa to King Charles X in France, the young boy puts his own life in jeopardy to return the giraffe to its rightful home. Along the way, Maki and Zarafa encounter a pair of magical twin cows named Mounh and Sounh (Moon and Sun), sail through the clouds with a benevolent balloonist named Malaterre, and battle the dreaded pirate queen Bouboulina.