Admittedly not terrible, but I didn't enjoy watching 'Arjun: The Warrior Prince'.

The animation is the biggest hamper - it's pretty poor, you expect so much more from a Disney film; I get the budget is more than likely much lower than what they'd give to a full blown US release, but I feel they could've done better. Some parts of it are decent, but the rougher parts stand out big.

I didn't dislike the premise, necessarily. Sure it isn't crafted to perfection or anywhere close, but the actual idea itself is solid. I can't say any of the voice cast stand out, though Yuddvir Bakolia fits OK-ish as the titular character.

Animation is one let down, another is the pacing. There's pieces of action here and there, but the ending lacks something enthralling - I didn't care for how it was going to conclude. It's predictable which doesn't help, but that can be overcome if it's entertaining to watch unfold - this, unfortunately, isn't.

For a worldwide release, the movie failed to set enough context. For release in the Indian subcontinent, this can be considered a positive step towards matured animation films. Arjun: The Warrior Prince has something for everyone.

Coming from India, I fall under the second category. Even before I started the film, I was sceptical regarding how much Mahabharata can anyone fit in a mere 96-minute runtime. Unfortunately, these fears realised as I finished the film. The movie takes certain important incidents from the life of the Arjun and weaves a tale keeping the titular character front and centre. For a tale of Arjun, it gives due importance to his feats and does not spend a lot of time covering a lot of optional syllabus. This makes the narrative somewhat disjoint and with a lack of introduction to many other characters, it becomes somewhat confusing to the worldwide audience.

The movie is worth a watch to provide encouragement and incentive for the Indian animation industry to produce some serious animation and not stay comfortable in the Chhota Bheem territory. I don't remember exactly when I was introduced to Batman the Animated Series, but it was fairly early in my childhood. There were a few more during the Cartoon Network era. From Centurians to Swat Kats, I have many fond memories of enjoying these. In those days we were producing great content (remember Captain Vyom) but we were limited by technology. The animations from Arjun remind us that we have the calibre and means to produce amazing animation content. I think we lack enough incentive. Correct me if I am wrong but I am not aware of a lot of options for kids who move up from the age of Chhota Bheem. Arjun, with its sprawling Hastinapura or the dramatic Draupadi Swayamwara, opens up a palette that we have not sampled from a lot.

Arjun still leaves a lot to be desired with its faster plot pacing and disjoint incidents narrative style, but it still is worth your time. Especially lookout for the two scenes I mentioned above. This was not recommended by anyone I know, I stumbled upon a random YouTube video beseeching the audience to give it a try and so I did. So here I am doing the same, go give that a try and let me know what you think.