The Triplets of Belleville

I approached this film with an open mind. Well, all right, with near-total ignorance, which is not always the same thing. What I knew was this:

* It was a quirky cartoon.
* Several friends had mentioned in passing that I would enjoy it.
* One song had been nominated for an Oscar.

And that song -- as restaged in live action for the Oscar show -- was enough to make me want to see it. Great song, obviously an offbeat movie, definitely worth renting.

So last night, when friends came over for dinner and a movie, I suggested The Triplets of Belleville. Nobody had seen it. Everybody was up for it, or possibly too polite to demur.

It was delightful. Funny, strange, haunting, sad, and deeply emotional. The story could have been intolerably saccharine: indomitable little grandmother doing her best to raise an orphaned little boy, brave doggie, great ambitions. It's saved from sentiment by its highly individual vision and by the very great skill of its construction.

The stunning, varied visual style is a hand-drawn riposte to the glossy ripeness of Pixar and Disney. Each character is delineated by a unique look; they could all be in different cartoons. The settings are likewise richly visualized. I won't forget Grandmama's sad, wise eyes magnified by her glasses; the grossly fat Statue of Liberty clutching a hamburger; the haunting beauty of Belleville's skyline and the wretchedness of its back alleys. I'm sure it would repay watching again and again; we did notice the mathematical formula inscribed under the stage at the beginning, but I bet there are hundreds of similar hidden jokes.

The soundtrack is likewise memorable -- jazzy and vivid. It carries a fair bit of the film's storyline, as it has to -- with no dialogue and surreal visuals that sometimes melt from dream to reality.

The Triplets of Belleville was not predictable, either in details or in overall structure. Yet the shape of the film as a whole was deeply satisfying. The story is flawlessly told (and all with virtually no dialogue), every joke and plot point is expertly constructed, and there are enough jarring images to maintain the suspense. I never doubted the Nemo would be found, for all that I enjoyed the movie. I did worry about Grandmamma, Champion, and the dog. Not to mention the singing triplets and their amazing frogsicles.

Rent this. Buy it. Watch it. A lovely, moving, affectionate film.

So boring I couldn't finish it! How could a cartoon be so slow...?! One good point - the cartoon has some nice moments like seeing the dog bark in slow motion at the train & passengers going by. But really, I rented it and couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of it. I finally returned it.

Animated films seem to be having resurgence these days. While Disney studios, in the midst of controversy, have decreased the amount of product they are offering not to mention losing their deal with Pixar, many new films are coming out to not only rave reviews but big box office as well. Such is the case with THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE.

The film opens with a little old lady and her grandson living the simple life in a small town in France. Attempting to make the boy happy she first buys him a dog and later, after finding a scrapbook he hides with pictures of bikes, a tricycle. Years go by, the dog gets bigger and the young boy grows to be a young man with an eye on entering the Tour de France.

With grandma's help, he trains nonstop. She is always at his side, doing all she can to help make his dream come true. When the race comes about, she is right there with him, blowing her whistle to help him keep time in the race. But a pair of black clad men flattens her tires and takes her place, eventually kidnapping the young man and two other riders for who knows what purpose. By the time she catches up, she finds a bike and nothing more.

Putting the dog to use, she tracks the men and their captives to a huge steamship setting sail. Renting a peddle paddle boat, she and the dog follow, riding out storms and landing on shore where she continues her search. Alone with no companion save for the dog, with no money, she finds herself building a fire and settling down under a bridge. As she picks out a tune by striking the spokes of a bicycle tire, three women come upon her and join in, tapping feet and clapping hands as they build upon her little tune to make music.

They immediately fall for the old woman and take her home with them to share whatever it is they have to offer. As she looks around their apartment, she realizes that these are the Triplets of Belleville, a musical group that she and her grandson loved (and viewed in a newsreel seen at the beginning of the movie).

Switch to the captive cyclists who we see are put on display riding before a filmed image in a betting parlor. Gamblers are putting money down on who they think will win between the three.

The triplets add the kindly grandmother to their act and hit the stage to make some money, intent on helping her find her grandson as soon as they can. While performing at a club, the gangster in charge of the gambling dead takes a table and the dog smells his master. After confronting him, they follow him to the gambling den and attempt a rescue that has to be seen to be believed.

This movie is a charmer, featuring a story that is filled with heart. The animation is some of the best hand drawn around combined with a few computer generated images. The music, an integral part of the movie seeing as how it introduces the triplets, will have you thinking of the song they sing long after watching.

While watching this film, something made me feel depressed at first. I'm not sure if it was the setting, the story or the life I saw being led. But by films end there are enough laughs and joy that it makes up for everything. Disney officials should take note and rediscover the lost art of animation. This movie offers it in spades, as well as a feature that entertains from beginning to end.

Sylvain Chomet's 2003 French animation feature, Les Triplettes de Belleville, is an astonishing retro cartoon parody featuring the singing triplettes, Violette, Blanche, and Rose (whose names are loosely represent the colors of the French flag). The film tells the story of Madame Souza, an elderly woman raising her orphaned grandson, Champion. In an attempt to rescue him from his ennui, Madame Souza buys Champion a tricycle, which ultimately inspires him to compete in the Tour de France. Unfortunately, during the race, he and two other riders are abducted by mysterious gangsters and brought to a fictional metropolis called Belleville (which has the Statue of Liberty in its harbor, nudge, nudge, wink, wink), where they are forced to pedal all day on a bicycle-based gambling machine. With the help of the family dog, Bruno, and the three singing crones, Madame Souza rescues Champion. There are many things that make this film a unique experience in animation. Although there is a little dialogue, most of the story is told through song and pantomime. (No subtitles required here.) The film's soundtrack features a retro score inspired by the 1920s. The film also confronts (with a witty sense of humor) many of the common stereotypes and clichés between the French and American cultures. (The French eat murdered frogs. Americans are obese and have no manners.) The film was the first animation with a PG-13 rating ever to be nominated for an Academy Awards (Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song). (Another PG-13 animation feature, Persepolis, is currently in competition for the Best Animated Feature Award.) Highly recommended.

G. Merritt

I zapped into this coincidentally of an evening, and zapping on simply wasn't an option. Rarely have I encountered anything so instantly captivating. This animation feature breathtakingly combines surreal fantasy, a devious and highly irreverent (and politically incorrect) sense of humour, and stunning, out-of-this world, yet strangely nostalgic visuals. The character design is unique, deliberately grotesque and exaggerating specific features: the waiter in the restaurant is a walking elastic band, the cyclists are needle thin but have enormous leg muscles, the inhabitants of Belleville (a thinly, or should I say thickly disguised take on Manhattan) are monstrously obese (Statue of Liberty included), the mobsters are ominous, black squares that at times merge together, and their cowardly sidekick is the human version of a mouse. The same kind of exaggeration determines the set design, with forests of skyscrapers rising interminably to form a magic Belleville backdrop. It's all executed with unobtrusive yet supreme technical mastery.

The plight of Madame Souza, who sets forth across stormy seas to the big city in order to rescue her cyclist grandson from the mob, is hilariously funny yet curiously touching too. The story pokes fun at gluttonous Americans, but no less at frog-eating French and brainless Tour the France riders. The invention is wild and surprising, often hilarious, and every scene is alive with delightful detail. Bruno the dog sends every other dog packing that ever tried to be funny in a cartoon, and scene upon scene doubled me up with laughter: from the very peculiar frog-catching method of the triplets to Mme Souza's exuberant outburst at the triplets' piano. And all this with hardly a word spoken: it is all sounds and music.

An intelligent and riveting offering that provides a refreshing breather from slick, CG-obsessed Hollywood fare, and in its artistic unity and uniqueness of style in my opinion even surpasses the productions from Studio Ghibli. I immediately ordered the DVD, and would urge anyone with a sense of fantasy and fun to do the same.