Thirty years after the release of Thailand's first animated film "Sud Sakorn", it's the turn of "Khan Kluay". The computer-animated feature about a heroic pachyderm has raked in more than Bt100 million at the box office.

Kompin Khemgumnird, director of the movie, talks about the film and the direction of the Thai animation industry.

How do you feel about the success of "Khan Kluay"?

I'm surprised but thrilled to see how deeply viewers have been touched by the brave little elephant and what we've done with the film.

The success reminds me a little of  "Snow White" and how Walt Disney brought so much emotion to the screen. "Khan Kluay" is doing the same.

Looking at the box office results of Hollywood animations, I didn't think Thai people were all that interested in this kind of film. I'm amazed at how the kids have embraced "Khan Kluay". They've queued for hours to have their picture taken with the mascot.

Maybe they identify with the story as the elephant is our national animal.

So you think that one of the successful factors is the Thai appearance of the film?

It's a mixture of everything. Actually, we've been criticised for being overly influenced by Disney. My reply to that is that it's a Disney influence with a Thai cultural attitude.

Thai culture, in this sense, isn't showing magnificent Thai architecture, but the sentiment of the Thai people, through the relationship between King Naresuan and Khan Kluay.

One of the most powerful scenes is when the king Naresuan pats Khan Kluay's trunk and the elephant bows to the king, which is an inherent part of Thai culture. That's what gives the story its Thai-ness.

Many people have commented on the similarities between the battle scene and the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, even though fighting on elephant-back is very much part of Thai history.

Does the belief that we love copying references from others obstruct your work?

It's annoying but there's nothing we can do about the LOTR reference.

In fact the best reference to learn by is nature. Watching other peoples' works can be useful - we learn how they fix the mistakes and cope with limitations then we apply similar processes to fix problems in our work.

We do not copy scenes and we are always careful to avoid doing things that will give people the impression we are copying. But sometimes we can't avoid it.

We do what is best for the coherence of the storyline.

There are a few violent scenes in the movie so what rating would you give the film?

PG 13 because of violent scenes. But it's impossible to get a PG rating because in the US, contact between characters during fights - even between animals - is prohibited under rating regulations.

How do you rate the movie in terms of animation quality?

If you give Hollywood animation an 'A', our work would merit a 'B' or 'B+'.

So why are Thai audiences complaining about imperfections?

We work to a certain standard but Thai people always compare us to the best like Pixar, which is unfair. Pixar has been going since the mid 1990s and has a lot of experienced people - some of them go back to the early days of Disney - while we've just started.

Some people say that if we're not capable of doing animation as good as Pixar's, we shouldn't bother ... that it's a shame to do it.

I totally disagree. If we don't start, when we will be able to create good works?

"Khan Kluay" is successful. It's not perfect but those naysayers can see our strong stance and that's important because it gives our team space to develop, which is just the beginning.

What kind of things need to be improved?

Animation movement, inconsistency in character design and filling the holes in the plot.

I guess that means everything! (Laughs).

Actually nothing is perfect in "Khan Kluay" but it becomes perfect when it's put together as a whole.

Our mission is to create our own character. Look at Korean animation. When they started, there was a heavy Japanese manga influence.

The more they produced, the better able they were to come up with their own character style.

I need more time to build a Thai character but a lucid pattern will emerge over the course of the next few animations.

How much impact will Khan Kluay have on the Thai animation industry?

Our film is not a pioneer in animation development because the industry has already been going for a while.

But as a successful feature film, it will encourage other people who have hesitated up to now.

I think it will also set a new standard for Thai animation, with audiences demanding more from producers.

What's crucial to developing animation in this country?

The software, which unfortunately is still not for sale. It's always in-house software.

We also created our own software to use in the battle scene.

Research and development is vital in developing the industry but it also requires the most investment and you can't foresee whether the outcomes will be of practical use.

Do you have a new project?

Yes, and I've already pitched the idea to [Kantana executive] Jaruek Kanjaruek. It is an original story set a few decades ago.

"Khan Kluay" is perhaps too Thai and needs some cultural background to enjoy but the next project will be more universal.

How long will it take to complete?

At least two years. Is that too long? I don't think so. We waited 30 years between "Sud Sakorn" and "Khan Kluay". So we should be able wait another two. Besides, another animation project from Boyd Kosiyaphong is due out next year.

Even though "Mae Nak" is a popular horror story, the animation focuses on the present day and has decent character design.

I think we are on our way. But I hope that audiences won't get bored the way they did with Walt Disney's 2-D animation back in the 1950s, and demand too high quality films too soon.

If that happens we won't survive and Thai animation will die before it has a chance to live.

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation