| Khan Kluay | |
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Thai movie poster. |
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| Directed by | Kompin Kemgumnird |
| Distributed by | Kantana Animation Sahamongkol Film International |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 2006 |
| Country | Thailand |
| Language | Thai |
| Budget | 150 million baht |
Khan Kluay (Thai: ก้านกล้วย; RTGS: Kan Kluai; pronounced [kâːn klûai]) 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. It is based on "Chao Praya Prab Hongsawadee" by Ariya Jintapanichkarn.
It was officially released as Jumbo in India and The Blue Elephant in the United States.
There is a sequel to this movie, known as "Khan Kluay 2"[1] This movie is about Khan Kluay's two elephant children, another attack by the Hongsawadi (Burmese), and struggling whether to live with his wife or fight the Burmese. [2]
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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'". 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.
Because of this, Khan Kluay wants to find his father. As he was 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 female elephant, 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 taxes from the village, and his taxes have become greedier and heavier 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 that he is 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, who was responsible for the death of Khan Kluay's father, and due to this, Khan Kluay gets a chance to acquit himself in battle for the glory of the Siamese kingdom, and to take his revenge.
In the end, Khan Kluay avenges for his father and kills the Burmese elephant. After that, Khan Kluay is released to the wild to spend the rest of his life with his loved ones, until the Burmese return...
Khan Kluay is directed by Kompin Kemgumnird, an animator who had worked on the Disney features as The Lion King, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, 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).
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.
Indian production company Percept Picture Company bought the rights to the film and released a Hindi-language version, Jumbo, on December 25, 2008. Indian actor Akshay Kumar provided the voice for the main character, Jumbo.[3]
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 My Neighbor Totoro, 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.
The film released in India on December 25, 2008, under the banner of The Percept Picture Company. It was renamed Jumbo, and was redubbed with a voice cast inclusive of Akshay Kumar, and Rajpal Yadav.
The film's sequel, Khan Kluay II is named as Jumbo Gajah Biru and it is distributed and dubbed by Astro Entertainment Sdn. Bhd. It premiered in Malaysian cinemas on March 11, 2010.
An animated television series, The Adventures of Khan Kluay, has been created by Kantana Animation Studio and is broadcast on BBTV Channel 7.
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