Mune: Guardian of the Moon

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Benoît Philippon directs. Bruno Coulais scores. Isabelle Malenfant cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in France, Canada. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Earned back only 93% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 3Released 11 years ago.
• 4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
• 5International production across 2 countries: France, Canada.
• 6Original score by Bruno Coulais. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Isabelle Malenfant shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Michaël Grégorio and Omar Sy and Izïa Higelin carry the top of the cast.
• 9IMDB entry: tt3858372 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Original score

Bruno Coulais

Editing

Isabelle Malenfant

Production design

Nico Marlet

Runtime

86 min · 1h 26m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$17,000,000

Box office

$15,730,665

Return

93% of budget

Original language

FR

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Mune: Guardian of the Moon (2015) ↗

Also by

Benoît Philippon

• 
  Lullaby for Pi

  2010 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Nephtali

  2015 · ★ 5.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Mune: The Guardian of the Moon - Official English Trailer (2015)

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2016-12-04
  ★ 8/10

  Two worlds within a world, fighting the darkness. France is only next to the Hollywood when it comes to the 3D animation. Not sufficient films were made in this format, but still the quality and creativity are laudable. When I saw one of this film's poster, not just for me, but anybody would think of the Na'vi from 'Avatar'. That's a misconception, only until you watch this film. Because it was totally different and awesome. Directed by two not very well known filmmakers, but their firsthand experience prior to this might have helped them for this project. Like in any animation films, this tale takes place in a fictional world. The story of legends of the guardians of the sun and moon. Both of those heavenly bodies were created and guarded by ancestors for generations of the two races to keep the planet in peace and harmony. A youngster named Mune, from the night world was accidentally chosen as the keeper of the moon during the ceremony to hand over the guardianship. While it was a successful in power transfer on the day world to another youngster, Sohone. The two youngsters eager to dedicate their lives to keep the order of the ancient practice. On his first day of duty, Mune messes up everything, followed by Necross, from the darkness who hidden underground for the centuries tries to bring chaos. Now, a girl who lives on the border of the day and the night joins those two to a quest to retrieve what is lost. Facing a tough challenge by an evil opponent, these three has to do impossibles. Meanwhile, it is an opportunity for them to prove themselves to their capabilities. The creativity was brilliant. Those characters, settings, story and its developments, so genuinely done. Not just Disney or Pixar, totally Hollywood got a close competition here. Quality films like this, 'The Little Prince' and 'Asterix', can help to grow French animation industry faster and to the standards. Especially this film was short and sweet. Despite a beautiful imaginary world, the storyline was pretty much clichéd, like the same old formula applied to a bunch of new characters. "What? You think adventure is to fly a unicorn! And to go with the elves? Bad news! We do not live in a fairy tale." I mean like any fantasy film, there's always something bad happens in the opening and the remaining is trying to resolve it, which are mostly a lifetime journey for them. We know that as an outline, but not in the pictures, so that's why we watch it. There's also nothing wrong in that, but how smartly the film narrates its story remain pivotal to calculate its success and according to me it fared so well. I hope you would think it that way as well after watching it. Very much a kids film, but I don't see a reason why grown ups should avoid it. In fact, this kind of stories are created by the adults with their imagination and that is not easily done work. You can compare it to our real world. Like how different races can live together peacefully. Besides, between two worlds, there's also a thin world exist that separates these two worlds, as well as unifies. As much you enjoy watching it, you will admire what they are doing and for why. Such an inspiration, particularly for the children. The parts of the film were comparable with other popular animations around the world, but not entirely, only the small portions. Maybe because of creative common, but I think the writers had done an incredible job with the screenplay, especially when there's no original source like perhaps a book. I watched it a little late, but the point is I did not miss it. I laid my eyes on it a very long ago, but could not get the right time till now. It's a great relief, moreover, I loved it. Well composed music, the background score was perfectly matched with the visuals which so colourful and attractive. The film also won a couple of international awards. I hope they make a sequel for this. Usual that does not happen in French animation, also the box office result is not in its favour. I think it is slightly an under-appreciated, but definitely an under-recognised film. So it needs your support, if you're an animation fan, you should try it. It was just like another Hollywood film, but was in the French Language. I say go for it! 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Kinology

  FR

• 

  Orange Studio

  FR

• 

  ON Animation Studios

  CA

Key crew

• ProducerCédric Pilot
• ProducerDimitri Rassam
• ProducerJean-Bernard Marinot
• ProducerBrice Garnier
• ProducerMatthieu Delaporte
• ProducerAton Soumache
• ProducerGrégoire Melin
• ProducerAlexis Vonarb
• ProducerFrédérique Dumas-Zajdela
• AdaptationJérôme Fansten
• DialogueBenoît Philippon
• DialogueJérôme Fansten
• IdeaBenoît Philippon
• AdaptationBenoît Philippon
• Lead AnimatorFrédéric Côté
• Animation DirectorSebastien Bruneau
• Lead AnimatorYannick Honore
• Lead AnimatorRyan Yee
• Lead AnimatorPhilippe Zerounian
• AnimationGabriel Bégin
• AnimationMarc-Andre Benoit
• AnimationAditi Bhandari
• AnimationBrendan Body
• AnimationFrançois Bonneville

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• moon
• guardian
• 3d animation

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)2017-08-12PG

Also known as

International titles

• Milo: Månens VokterNO
• Muun, kuu valvurEE
• 뮨-달의 요정KR
• MuneUS
• ミューン 月の守護者の伝説JP