Characters of the 2012 film, Adventures in Zambezia.
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Kai
Species: Peregrine Falcon
Voiced by: Jeremy Suarez
The main protagonist of Adventures in Zambezia.
- Blue Is Heroic: He has blue feathers, which he inherited from his dead mother.
- Despair Event Horizon: He gets pretty upset once he is discharged from the Hurricanes.
- Establishing Character Moment: He is first seen flying around a herd of giraffes, showing how much of a cocky flyer he is.
- Missing Mom: His mother, Amaya was killed by Budzo before the events of the movie.
- Nice Guy: He's brave, friendly and good-natured.
- Rousing Speech: He gives the residents of Zambezia one of these when Budzo begins his invasion.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Kai inherited his blue feathers from his deceased mother. The only thing he inherited from his father was his eye color.
Tendai
Species: Peregrine Falcon
Voiced by: Samuel L. Jackson
Kai's father and One of the founders of the Hurricanes.
- Action Dad: He's a Peregrine Falcon who's both a brave warrior and a loving father.
- Anger Born of Worry: He only gets angry with Kai because he wants him to be safe.
- Badass in Distress: Spends most of the movie in Budzo's clutches.
- Happily Married: While his marriage wasn't shown at all in the entire movie, it's pretty clear that he loved his wife.
- Heartbroken Badass: After his wife, Amaya is killed by Budzo. He does move on from his wife's death, but doesn't remarry, and it took a while for him to return to Zambezia.
- Not So Above It All: He is seen happily dancing at the end of the film, much to Kai's bewilderment.
- So Proud of You: Says this to Kai at the end of the movie. He also says that his mother would be proud too.
Sekhuru
Species: African Fish Eagle
Voiced by: Leonard Nimoy
The chief of Zambezia.
- An Arm and a Leg: Budzo took his right wing off.
- Big Good: As the chief of Zambezia, he cares greatly for all of its inhabitants, especially his daughter, Zoe.
- Cool Old Guy: He does the best he can to protect Zoe and everyone else in Zambezia, despite his age and the fact that he is missing one of his wings.
- Handicapped Badass: Despite losing one of his wings, Sekhuru still tries to stand up to Budzo when he invades Zambezia.
Zoe
Species: Black Winged Kite
Voiced by: Abigail Breslin
The adopted daughter of Sekhuru and Kai's love interest.
- Action Girl: While she doesn't want to admit it to Kai or her father at first, she secretly wants to join the hurricanes.
- Action Girlfriend: She soon becomes Kai's girlfriend by the end of the movie.
- Happily Adopted: She is perfectly happy in the care of Sekhuru.
- Parental Abandonment: It is unclear what happened to her biological parents, but it's heavily implied that Budzo killed them.
Ezee
Species: Nightjar
Voiced by: Jamal Mixon
Zambezia's resident poster bird.
- Insistent Terminology: He tells Kai that he says "Amazing" differently in Zambezia ("Am-ah-zing" instead of "Am-ay-zing").
- Lazy Bum: He neglected to put up the posters for the Hurricanes' air show on the day before.
- Lovable Coward: He is great friends with Kai, but is terrified of Budzo.
- Nice Guy: He may be a bit of a slacker, but he's a nice guy and a loyal friend.
- The Slacker: He was meant to put up the posters for the Hurricanes' air show, but he was a bit too lazy to do it until the day of the show!
Ajax
Species: Lammergeier
Voiced by: Jeff Goldblum
The commanding officer of the Hurricanes.
- By-the-Book Cop: He insists on following rules and protocol, and disapproves of Kai's free spirit.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: He doesn't treat any newcomers as highly as he treats his veterans.
- Eye Am Watching You: He's kind of on edge when he sees the Marabous being accepted into Zambezia.
Pavi
Species: African Sacred Ibis
Voiced by: Noureen DeWulf
An African Sacred Ibis who Kai first meets on his way to Zambezia.
Cecil
Species: Marabou Stork
Voiced by: Richard E. Grant
A Marabou Stork who is forced to help Budzo get to Zambezia after his brother's death.
- The Atoner: He gets the other Marabous to take down the bridge that Budzo had the Weavers make so he and his fellow monitors could enter Zambezia."We abridged it, we can unabridge it!"
- Evil Brit: This is to be expected from Richard E. Grant. However, he drops the evil part once Budzo betrays him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's rather unnerved by Budzo, who he serves more out of fear than genuine loyalty.
- Heel–Face Turn: Has one of these once Budzo betrays him and the other Marabous.
- Minion with an F in Evil: The only really evil thing he does is assist in the kidnapping of the Weavers.
- My Sibling Will Live Through Me: His brother, Cyril, dies at the beginning of the movie.
- Scavengers Are Scum: Zambezians don't trust him and his fellow marabous. He conspires with Budzo after the lizard promises that he'll give them the city.
Budzo
Species: Rock Monitor
Voiced by: Jim Cummings
An evil lizard who plans to eat all the eggs in Zambezia.
- Animals Not to Scale: He is far too large for any African lizard species, closer in size to a komodo dragon.
- Ax-Crazy: He's rather sadistic and unhinged.
- Big Bad: He's responsible for most of the bad things happening in the movie, including the Evil Plan to eat the eggs in Zambezia, killing Kai's mother (which made Tendai overprotective of his son) and biting off Sekhuru's wing.
- Blood Knight: Really, really enjoys fighting.
- Card-Carrying Villain: When one of the Weavers calls him out for being a monster, he replies by saying "Thank you. One does what one can."
- Child Eater: He loves the taste of bird eggs, and his goal is to take over Zambezia so as to eat all of their eggs.
- Disney Villain Death: He almost took Zoe with him.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first scene shows him explaining his plot to the Marabous.
- Evil Is Bigger: He's a gigantic lizard that towers over the birds, even the Marabous.
- Evil Laugh: Lets out a few of these throughout the movie.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His voice sounds like Dr. Robotnik with an African accent. Then again, evil usually sounds deep when voiced by Jim Cummings.
- Faux Affably Evil: He can act polite and charming when he wants to, but make no mistake, he's a truly sadistic monster.
- Hero Killer: He killed Kai's mother, one of the founders of the Hurricanes.
- Horror Hunger: His hunger for eggs is portrayed as such.
- Knight of Cerebus: Every time he appears on screen, all comedy instantly disappears.
- Malicious Monitor Lizard: A vicious monitor lizard with a borderline ravenous hunger for birds' eggs.
- Manipulative Bastard: Manipulates the marabous into helping him, by preying on their insecurities and desires.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: He's the only major character in the movie who isn't a bird.
- Slasher Smile: He sports one of these throughout the movie. The only time he loses it is during his Disney Villain Death.
- Taking You with Me: As he's falling to his death, Zoe gets her foot caught in the net and is almost pulled down with him. Luckily, Kai saves her.
- Would Hurt a Child: He is perfectly willing to eat several birds' eggs just to feed himself.
