Release Date - June 19

Cert - 15

Run-time - 1 hour 27 minutes

Directors - Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

PRINCESS Saira (Shabana Azeez) leaves her home planet and ventures across the gay-laxy to save her ex-girlfriend (Bernie Van Tiel) from the Straight White Maliens (Aunty Donna).

The Saturday morning cartoon is alive and well!

As seen with last week's Masters Of The Universe, and now, Australian indie animation Lesbian Space Princess, those who grew up on them are bringing them to the big screen, the only difference being that Lesbian Space Princess is made for a purely adult audience.

Coated in vibrant, cotton-candy colours, the humour and characters across the gay-laxy are just as bright and sparkly, as Princess Saira (Shabana Azeez) ventures away from her home planet to save her recently-dumped-by ex-girlfriend, Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel), from a trio of Straight White Maliens (sketch group Aunty Donna) intent on obtaining Saira's labrys in order to activate their Swedish-made chick magnet.

Saira is full of worry and anxiety, her world practically ended when Kiki broke up with her, after a brief relationship, for being boring.

Her outlook contrasts greatly with aspiring singer Willow's (Gemma Chua-Tran) endless optimism, although both greatly irritate the space-travelling Problematic Ship, Richard Roxburgh, who reduced me to tears more than once.

The Ship's quick quips and audible eye-rolls have a similar effect, though in much briefer time, to the seemingly improvised interactions between the Maliens who can draw out plenty of arguments, misunderstandings, and attempts at rehearsing asking a girl out, with incel-led views.

Appearing as pale, rectangular blocks, the animation of these characters and some of their humour, strikes a similar tone to the South Park Canadians, with other jokes throughout having a South Park-esque feel.

Aunty Donna feel as if they have been let loose with the film, embracing each other’s anarchic style.

Much like the title character, Lesbian Space Princess is confident and unashamed about itself, a story of self-love that strides forward with glee.

A celebration of personal identity is at the film’s core and it is a pure joy to behold.

Punchy, and occasionally raunchy, there are plenty of giggles and laugh-out-loud moments from start to finish.

A fun, joyful, and silly film that embraces the colour and chaos of Saturday morning cartoons, complete with short bursts of song as the countdown to Kiki's execution continues.

Writer-directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, alongside their voice cast and small team of animators (led by Hobbs, who also serves as production designer) have made a full-throttle space adventure that is playful, proud, and aware of itself. Both in the anxieties of Saira and how she develops over 87 minutes, which fly by.

Creating a mass of laughs from beginning to end, it forms one of the funniest, most vibrant, and entertaining films of the year.

An explosion of colour and gay chaos, where every character is given plenty of funny lines in a film where almost every line feels like a standout.

It all feels destined to become a cult classic.

Five stars