( The King and the Mockingbird ) is a surrealist French animated masterpiece directed by Paul Grimault with a screenplay by poet Jacques Prévert . Released in its definitive form in 1980 after a decades-long production struggle, it is widely regarded as a pinnacle of French cinema and a primary inspiration for Studio Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
Loosely adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep," the film is set in the sprawling, vertically-built Kingdom of Takicardia. Le roi et l'oiseau