Sita sings the blues

Cartoonist Nina Paley's inspired tale of love gone wrong cheekily mixes different styles of animation into a jazzy, eye-popping epic of flying monkeys, many-headed demons and love-weary women. Paley pairs the story of her own marital breakup with the legend of the Goddess Sita, whose unceremonious dumpage is recounted in the Indian epic The Ramayana. The ballad of Sita and her husband Rama, is helpfully narrated by three shadow puppets who aren't terribly clear on the details, but nonetheless provide a Greek chorus of sorts for the action, which comes hot and heavy. While some of the finer plot points may get lost, the heart of the story remains unchanged. Sita's beauty earns her the lust of the demon king of Ceylon, who spirits her away to Lanka, his island stronghold. But even after her husband battles untold hordes to get her back, things didn't quite work out. Oh, relationships...
The pure glorious power of the animated image is given full rein here as Paley pulls out all the stops. Busby Berkley-like numbers, punctuated by the Betty Boop stylings of 1920s chanteuse Annette Hanshaw, rain down in gorgeous hues of blue, gold and hot pink. A unique movie for audiences of all ages.