Kirikou and the Sorceress

Kirikou and the Sorceress is an animated family fantasy adventure set in a West African village. A woman gives birth to a boy, Kirikou, who can already speak and walk, and who quickly shows a stubborn curiosity about the world around him. His village lives under a curse laid by the sorceress Karaba: the spring has dried up, the men have disappeared, and the inhabitants must hand over tributes. Kirikou refuses to accept this, and he sets out to confront Karaba and learn what lies behind her cruelty. Along the way he travels toward a mountain, where a wise old man reveals something about the sorceress's past.

Michel Ocelot directed and wrote the screenplay; the film was released in 1998 and is the earliest of five features he directed, followed by Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest, The Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess and The Three-Eared Rabbits. The voice cast includes Doudou Gueye Thiaw as the young Kirikou, Maimouna N'Diaye as his mother, Awa Sène Sarr as Karaba, Robert Liensol as the sage in the mountain, and William Nadylam and Sebastien Hebrant as the grown Kirikou. Made in Belgium, Luxembourg and France for about four million dollars, the film holds a rating of 7.4 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 1,200 votes.