In nearly 1000 years there is a boy who seems to have many dreams about being a great warrior but the opportunity was not available. Then the child decided to flee to a distant land accompanied by his sister, where he grow up in a remote area of a strange and injustice world but he found courage in that dark society.
For all of the impressive animation renderings of environmental backgrounds, structures, clothing and such, the characters don't appear real. (Full Content Review for Parents - Violence, etc. - also Available)
While "Bilal" is a noble effort, and quite involving if you sit back and drink in the visuals, there's a good story here that should have been told better.
Bilal: A New Breed of Hero is a lush, impressive animated film, from an unlikely corner of the world, about a story not likely known to most Western audiences.
Where Bilal exceeds in animation and direction, it lacks in entertaining, cohesive story, possibly owing to either the directors' desire to remain accurate to Muslim texts or the huge span of time they are trying to cover in a single movie.
Suffers from a confusing narrative and a style of computer animation that blurs the lines between the real and the animated in a way that evokes the discomfiting artifice of "The Polar Express."
We don't get many animated adventures with Islamic heroes and historical Arabian settings, and while it may be too intense for younger kids, the film merits note for bringing these elements to Western family audiences.