Foreign animation has always been good; Denmark proved they could deliver the goods with the endearing Help! I’m a Fish and the adorable The Ugly Duckling and Me among others, while Spain produced the amusing Planet 51. France now gives us this off-beat and interesting animated film, A Monster In Paris, which again shows us that in terms of animation, the rest of the world is catching up with the UK and America. Directed by Eric Bibo Bergeron, director of Shark Tale and the laugh-a-minute The Road to El Dorado, and animated by his company Bibo Films, which contributed animation to one of my favourite films, All Dogs Go To Heaven 2. Upon viewing it in the cinema in January 2012, I knew I was in for a treat. A Monster in Paris follows Raoul and Emile (voiced by Adam Goldberg & Jay Harrington respectively) who accidentally create a 7-foot flea, but team up with Raoul’s object of affection, Lucille (voiced by Vanessa Paradis), to hide him from those who want to destroy him when they discover he is really a lovable creature – who can also sing and play musical instruments amazingly well.
It may not be the most original of basic stories, spinning ideas from Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame but it is certainly a unique way of presenting an often-told story. After all, as I have mentioned before, animation seems to be losing its originality, with Brave showing itself to be a bit of a Brother Bear copy, while the Oscar-winning but incredibly overrated Happy Feet was a blatant rip-off of two obscure cartoons called The Pebble and the Penguin and The Trumpet of the Swan, both of which were much more entertaining than Happy Feet. This film is an animation worth remembering for years – it is often the unique or at times controversial animations which are remembered over the years, as are the ones that make an effort to be timeless. Don Bluth’s classic dark animations The Secret of NIMH and All Dogs Go To Heaven were slated by many for being too dark for children, but have remained favourites ever since their initial releases in 1982 and 1989 respectively. When will Megamind, The Smurfs or Alvin and the Chipmunks ever be mentioned in 30 years time?
The voice cast is also perfectly chosen, and amazingly, the flea’s singing voice is provided by John Lennon’s son, Sean! How cool is that? While some may criticise the film’s animation, this reviewer feels it gives the film a certain overall atmosphere and feeling (also, why don’t we stick them on the computer and see if they can do a better job?). Different, funny and very well animated with some surprisingly great songs, A Monster in Paris is “très bien fait” (very well done).
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