Animated film - The Triplets Of Belleville

[DanSTC]

I saw this on Ebert & Roper a few weeks ago, and have since been enticed into finding a theatre where it's playing.

Trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/thetripletsofbellville.html

Movie site here: http://www.sonyclassics.com/triplets/#

The movie's plot is basically this: A French cyclist set to participate in the Tour De France lives with his kindly and feisty little grandma. However, during the preliminaries, he is kidnapped by a trio of mean-looking gents in suits. Grandma and her dog chase after the men to get her son back in time for the cycle race, but soon find themselves lost in the French city of Belleville. Fortunately, grandma hits it off well with a trio of performers from Belleville's swingin' flapper-girl past, the triplets of Belleville. Now eldery ladies themselves (though hardly any diminished in their musical talents) the girls take grandma under their wing and after rekindling their muse, help her track down her son.

The film itself seems to follow several conventions of French art cinema, and where animated comedy is concerned, this is a very good thing. The impression I get is that there's a heavy dose of influence from directors like Jean-Paul Junet. (City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Amelie, Alien: Resurrection)

Sylvain Chomet, the creator and director of the film has been repsonsible for some excellent French comic work (Futuropolis, Casterman) and also created the Oscar-nominated short film "The Old Lady and the Pigeons."

The movie is heavy on human charicature styling, which is excellent as satirical charicature is something which France has a very long tradition of. The characters are all beautifully comical in their deviously creative exagerration...everything from the gangly and strangely agile triplets, to the overweight American tourists, to the square-bodied bespectacled thugs, to the bent-over-backwards French waiter. The characters are extremely personable and well-animated, coming off even more human than human at times.
In a similar manner, the exquisitely detailed backgrounds and environments are also displaced and charicatured, bringing to mind an evocative conjunction between the nostalgic detail of director Hayao Miyazaki's films and the expressionist stylization of urban environments in old silent films like "Metropolis" and "the cabinent of Dr. Caligari."

Dialogue is omitted in the movie, and conducted via pantomime for the most part, save for screams, gasps, laughter, and the swingin' soundtrack. Oh, and extra-emphasis on the soundtrack being swingin'. Watch the trailer to see what I mean...wow. That's some great stuff.

Oh yeah, and the film has been nominated for two Oscars. One for best animated film (Nemo will probably beat it out though) and one for its soundtrack.

I've really got to see this myself. I've been hearing nothing but good things from the folks who have seen it.

[jwo]

i liked it alot.
2d is standing it's ground

[DanSTC]

Originally posted by jwo
i liked it alot.
2d is standing it's ground

Oh come on, 2-d isn't in any danger of dying. Just look at Japan for crying out loud! Not only is it far from dying over there, but it's an integral part of entertainment.

2-d is never going to die, though the techniques used to accomplish 2-d have changed.
For that matter, 3-d animation is often essentially just a new take on 2-d...Pixar, for example, still uses lots of animation techniques for their films that can only be learned in-depth by practicing 2-d animation. Hell, Pixar's gotten the right idea from the Japanese too, and even recently created a 2-d animation wing to their studios in preparation for an adult-targetted 2-d animated film!

The way I see it, all that's in danger of dying is the "Disney"-style lighthearted family musical comedy format schlock that was rapidly killing the market and helping reinforce the American perception that "cartoons are for kids."

[jwo]

2d is making a sandwich

[seb]

i heard the pixar 2-d studio was a myth. although it would be nice to see if they actually make ray gunn. there will always be a place for 2d as there is for 3d. I think the big challenge for 3d as it matures is how studios will make their products stylistically different than other studios. American 3d seems to be a tad more conservative and about realism as the japanese seem to taking a few big risks.

triplets is a great film. I'm glad i got the opportunity to catch a screening of it at work. the backgrounds are amazing. reminds me a lot of 100 and 1 dalmations. the compositions are great too. im looking forward to their next project. speaking of which, i also am really looking forward to nocturna by some spanish studio. looks promising. el cid was ok, but shows a lot of promise.

[DanSTC]

Originally posted by jwo
2d is making a sandwich

OIC.

Sorry for flipping out and launching into a rant like that. I think I misunderstood you and took it a bit over the line. :)

[cotron]

JWO- that was friggin awesome.

that movie looks great! can't wait to see it

[DanSTC]

Okay, I finally got to see it, and I really have to say...it is undoubtedly one of the best animated films I've ever seen. I'd rank it right up there with my favorite top 5 animated movies. I would definately compare this to some of Hayao Miyazaki's best work.

The thing I really love about it is that it doesn't feel like it was made to satisfy some sort of boardroom of directors or that it's too eager to please a wide target audience...something which even Pixar is guilty of in their excellent films. But this movie comes across so honestly, and the characters are positively the most *human* charicatures I've ever seen in any animated film, that you can't help but like them. There's nothing that makes me cringe or comes off as sappy in the movie.

In fact, my only real gripe is that its ending comes on a bit quicker than I would have liked. I would've at least liked to have seen Champion competing in the next Tour De France or something before the movie ended.

Anyway, I can't wait to get this on DVD so I can watch it over and over again to check out all the jokes, references, and little details all throughout.

[tyboogie]

took my girl to it on valentines day--good flick

beautiful animation, and i loved teh lack of dialogue--

for some reason after grandma moved in with the triplets and they discovered teh sons whereabouts i started to lose interest--not sure exactly why--but that first 45 min was gold

[I.was.ink]

It looks cool.

That movie you mentioned seb, nocturna looks amazing. I love the character design for the movie. Did you see the pic for pinochio? He looks super futuristic.

-iwasink

[JoshuaTheJames]

My friend told me it was wierd...He usually thinks anything a bit out of the ordinary is wierd so I went in thinking it can't be that bad.

And to my surprise! ...I thought it was damn wierd.

It was fun, funny and entertaining...for some reason I want to see it again.

-Joshua

[davi]

i finally found a theatre that had it here and saw it.

it is truely weird. there is hardly any dialogue and the dialogue doesn't really move the story. it's just a very interesting view.

[DanSTC]

I didn't really think it was all that weird. It was more witty than anything else, I think. Of course, I've seen stuff that's easily much weirder.

The movie's very heavy on exagerration and lots of tongue-in-cheek humor. As far as animated features go, it's one of the more original ones out there, I'd say.

Really, to me the only stuff that came off as "weird" was the stuff that was supposed to be weird, like the sisters, the doggie dreams, the thugs, etc. The rest of it was either touching, funny, disturbing, or evocative.

Also, while Fred Astare was easy to identify, the bare-breasted dancer in the opening sequence was based on an actual French celebritee. Originally an American, she was a huge successful performer when she moved to France, where there was less of a stigma about her being a sophisticated and well-educated black woman. (And about her performing topless, for that matter.) She actually contributed a lot to the French underground during WW2, too. She's one of those iconic cultural celebritees in France, really. (Unfortunately, her name escapes me at the moment. I'll edit this post later when I find it.)

[Pencil Soldier]

The movie's very heavy on exagerration and lots of tongue-in-cheek humor.

Mabye thats why they don't talk in the movie...all the charecters tounges are in their cheeks! Bada-boom!

This movie is on my list to see. Im glad ive heard nothing but good things about it.