Product Description

When a forgotten enemy returns, the fate of the world lies with a spirited princess and an unlikely hero. Take an exciting journey to a spectacular realm of magic, fantasy, romance, and adventure.


**Special Features:
*Audio Commentary from the Directors
*Behind the Scenes
*Sounds of Delgo
*Meet the Characters
*Animated Short: Chroma Chamelon
*6 Deleted Scenes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10633 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2009-08-04
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com
Delgo is a computer-animated film that is at once fantasy, action, and drama, with an added dose of comedy. The most amazing thing about the film, besides the fact that it was 10 years in the making, is its rich graphic rendering of a world that's unlike any other. The backgrounds have an almost painted quality and the contrast of the stark, resource depleted planet of the Nohrins and the natural, dreamlike world of Jhamora is striking thanks to intense color saturation and an impressive level of visual detail. Despite its uniqueness, Jhamora is plagued by an all-too-common conflict rooted in the cultural and moral differences of its two peoples. This epic story follows two young teenagers, Nohrin Princess Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Lockni Jhamora native Delgo (Freddie Prinze Jr.), who share a common dream of cultural acceptance and cooperation as they fall into friendship and then love. Exiled Nohrin Sedessa (Anne Bancroft), who was banished from Jhamora for killing King Zahn's (Louis Gossett Jr.) wife (Princess Kyla's mother), and General Raius (Malcolm McDowell) kidnap Princess Kyla--an event which leads to Delgo and his bumbling friend Filo (Chris Kattan) being imprisoned for the crime and incites war between the two peoples. Can peace possibly return to Jhamora without the total extermination of either the Nohrin or the Lockni people? Battlefield action on the ground and in the sky is intense and omnipresent throughout the film and the story is interesting, if not original, but the animation is at times rather choppy and almost video-game-like and somehow the film just isn't all that engaging. Bonus features include commentary with co-writer and producer Marc Adler, co-director and co-writer Jason Maurer, and animation and visual effects supervisor Warren Grubb; a behind the scenes look at how the voice talent shaped the film's characters, a featurette detailing the composer's and sound designer's thoughts about the sounds of Delgo; meet the characters and creatures functions, and six deleted scenes. (Ages 10 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Stills from Delgo (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Archetypal Meets Extra-Terrestrial
Many will complain about the lack of originality in "Delgo." Indeed, it's an archetypal fantasy story about a young, reckless hero, a wise elder, a damsel in distress, a wicked conqueror, and above all, a battle between good and evil. The only thing about this film that's original is the look, with typically medieval settings pushed aside in favor of a completely fictional, computer-generated alien planet called Jhamora. The characters are anything but human; they're divided into the amphibious Lokni people, the winged Nohrins, and an assortment of other strange beings that would pass for animals on our world. The pallet reminded me of the colors you'd see swirling on the surface of a soap bubble, bold shades of purple and green and blue with hints of red and orange. The visuals of this movie are so thoroughly extra-terrestrial that I find it hard to criticize them. I thought they were great to look at.

As for the story, yes, it follows a very well established formula to a tee. But did anyone complain about the lack of originality in "Star Wars," which was also about a young, reckless hero, a wise elder, and everything else I listed earlier? What about the "Lord of the Rings" saga? Or "The Chronicles of Narnia"? Or "Beowulf"? Poking holes in an archetypal story is pointless, in my opinion. If you don't agree, then you probably never liked such stories to begin with. All I know is that "Delgo" achieves exactly what it wanted to achieve, and because of that, I was able to look past its shortcomings and just enjoy it for what it was. The only thing I wondered about was how long ago it was made; it features a vocal performance by Anne Bancroft, who died in 2005. It seems a little odd that this movie was delayed for so long.

The setup: Long ago, when Nohirn lands became inhospitable, King Zahn (voiced by Louis Gossett, Jr.) made an agreement to share land with the Loknis. It wasn't long before tensions grew, the Nohrins claiming more land than was necessary. Then Zahn's power-hungry sister, Sedessa (voiced by Bancroft), launched an unnecessary attack against the Loknis, many of which were slaughtered. She then planned the murder of Zahn, his wife, and his infant daughter; she was caught before she could finish the job, which led to her being banished and having her wings cut off. The Loknis and the Nohrins formed a very shaky truce after that, forming a border that neither species is allowed to cross over.

The story proper: We meet a teenage Lokni named Delgo (voiced by Freddy Prinze, Jr.), whose parents died when Sedessa attacked his village many years ago. Ever since then, he's been living with Elder Marley (voiced by Michael Clark Duncan), a Zen-like master with mystical powers whose speaks almost entirely in proverbs. As hard as he tries to train Delgo with mind exercises, Delgo is stubborn, careless, and intolerant of the Nohrins. One day, while spending time near the border, he meets the headstrong Princess Kyla (voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt). While there's an immediate attraction, there's also hostility, and it's made worse when Kyla's escorts--Raius (voiced by Malcolm McDowell) and Bogardus (voiced by Val Kilmer), both in Zahn's army--attack Delgo for making a wrong move.

Raius is secretly in cahoots with Sedessa, who's plotting to steal the throne away from her brother. This involves kidnapping Kyla and blaming Delgo for it, which in turn will start a war between the Nohrins and the Loknis. In order to save both Kyla and their peoples, Delgo and Bogardus reluctantly form an alliance; hopefully, they can put aside their differences long enough to stop Sedessa and prevent Zahn from launching the first attack.

No archetypal story would be complete without some comedy relief. On the Lokni side, there's Delgo's best friend, Filo (voiced by Chris Kattan), who sounds like a tweaker on a bad amphetamine high. On the Nohrin side, there's Sedessa's servant, Spig (voiced by Eric Idle), a bumbling dragon-like creature. Neither one adds much to the story, but then again, that's not what comedy relief is for. Filo and Spig provide the audience with a break from the action, and nothing more.

If what I've said hasn't piqued your interest, then it's probably best you avoid this movie. As I've already said, "Delgo" gives us nothing new in the way of story or character; with the exception of the visuals, it's about as formulaic as it gets. I'm recommending it mostly because it delivers at a basic level--you want a tried and true fantasy, you've got a tried and true fantasy. Some may not appreciate the animation, and I agree that it wasn't as polished as it could have been. Still, I've seen worse-looking CGI characters ("Star Wars: The Clone Wars" comes to mind). Ultimately, you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by expecting anything more from "Delgo" than what it promises. It functions in much the same way as a children's bedtime story: It's enjoyable even though it's been told to us time and time again. Consistency is always more comforting than originality. There may come a time when we will want a new story, but until then, we have movies like "Delgo" to keep us entertained.

UNEVEN AND FLAWED, YET FASCINATING FANTASY 7 OUT OF 10
I wasn't sure of what I was getting into with Delgo when I was getting ready to watch it. Despite the fact that customers on this site praise this film, this film on every other site I've seen has been savagely torn apart by critics and moviegoers alike (27 out of 100 on Metacritic and a 13% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). I was pleasantly surprised with Delgo, and I actually got a decent film out of it. It's most certainly not the greatest animated film I've ever seen, and it will never make any "Best" lists, but it's still worth a look.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The film starts off by telling us of a war between two races, and a power struggle between a royal family. An evil woman named Sedessa tries to take over more of the enemy's territory, and when she is banished from the royal family, she then kills the king's wife and then loses her wings and is banished to a faraway land where years later she attempts to start war again. We are then introduced to our hero, Delgo whose parents were killed in the war years ago, his friend Filo, and then a girl from the other race named Kyla who is the daughter of the king. Together the group (Along with some other friends) must stop Sedessa from taking over the land and murdering the king.
MUSIC: The music is actually pretty good and it fits the mood quite well. I was never bored with it and it always flowed well with the film.
ACTING: They managed to get some pretty good actors to play in this film, and for the most part the actors were actually pretty good. I don't who the voice-actor for the character Filo was, but he annoyed the ever-loving crap out of me. I was just rooting for the bad guys in this film to kill him off, but sadly it never came. If you thought the Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks was the most annoying character ever, think again there are much worse as proven by this character Filo. However, the rest of the voice-acting was good, even there were moments of cheesy dialogue.
ACTION: This film's biggest flaw is the lack of originality in, well, everything to be precise. None of these characters felt original, and seemed to be the usual stereotypical fantasy heroes we're accustomed to. There wasn't really anything that made me care about these characters and there was just no real way to relate to them. This film does however, feature some pretty good action sequences that can be rather explosive at times and really fun to watch. However, there's always that nagging feeling in the back of your head because you've already seen this before in other (Superior) films. While the CGI animation looks pretty, it's definitely not the best-looking CGI film I've ever seen (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is the best-looking of them all, and I recommend you see it).
OVERALL: While Delgo is most likely not going to wow you, it offers a good time that's worth the money despite the lack of originality. It offers enough good times that should keep the family entertained and there's enough humor to keep things flowing as well. However, you have other options at hand. Still, it won't hurt to try this film.
THE GOOD: Good CGI animation, good music, good acting, cool action scenes.
THE BAD: Nothing really feels original, some animation is stilted and awkward, and I despise the voice-acting of Filo.

impressed
Quite a Epic of a movie for a animated one. The graphics are pretty good, the
characters are plenty, and its good for the whole family. A familiar story of
Good against evil brings us to this world where they are trying to live in peace
but there's always someone's who wants WAR for their profits.
Love the scenes where we see both armies...the computer animation is always
improving. Im sure some will not like it...as in all movies, but for the ones
that like these kind of movies, i dont think you will be let down by this adventure.