In France, the film received a positive reception from both critics and the public. In the monthly film magazine
Positif, Michel Roudévitch believes that the film is a good adaptation of the comic book
Aya de Yopougon: he finds the film
faithful (in terms of content and form) to the antics and entanglements of the first two episodes of this delightful comedy. The newspaper
Ouest-France gave the film three stars out of four and appreciates the originality of the graphics compared to high-budget animated films released during the same summer (
we are far from the outpouring of images created all in the same mold of computers, like Hollywood productions) as well as the fidelity to the original comic book and the fact that
the picturesque and (...) exoticism in the recreation of settings and characters is balanced by
the search for a certain realism in the description of a contemporary society, both in the imagery and the plot as well as in the language that incorporates local slang. The Christian daily
La Croix also provides a very favorable review, in which Yaël Eckert appreciates both the aesthetics and voices of the film, as well as the use of local slang, humor, and the highlighting of the resourcefulness of female characters; he favorably compares the film to previous adaptations of comics by their original authors, such as
Persepolis by
Marjane Satrapi and ''
The Rabbi's Cat'' by
Joann Sfar. For Cécile Mury in
Télérama,
Everything is overflowing with life (...), the colors vibrate, and the depiction of 1970s life in the Yopougon neighborhood is
tender, but not idealized. In the daily
Le Monde, Jacques Mandelbaum has a more mixed opinion on this subject: he considers the universe of the film
alas a bit tainted by prettiness and dilution and sees
chromos of Abidjan. In ''
L'Express, Christophe Carrière conversely finds that it is the animation that poses a problem, due to a fluidity below what we are now accustomed to
, but that the screenplay compensates for this flaw with quirky and enlightening situations'' and a reflection on a universal subject. In
Le Parisien, Christophe Levent gives
Aya de Yopougon two stars out of three and sees it as
a good family entertainment, stating that the animation, which he describes as
old-school, seems appropriate for the subject; however, he feels that the film is not rhythmic enough to generate enthusiasm. According to a review from
Libération,
the final result leaves a mixed feeling, as if the elements of the comic, when animated, became at times more childish, and at other times more kitsch; although
not exactly dishonorable, the film seems
to [lack] a certain madness, and perhaps, quite simply... resources. == Box office ==