Monday, October 10, 2011

A Monster in Paris (Not monstre a Paris)

A EuropaCorp, Bibo Films, France 3 Cinema, Taking a stroll co-production, in colaboration with UFilm and UFund, using the participation of Canal Plus, France Televisions, Cinecinema. (Worldwide sales: EuropaCorp, Paris.) Executive producers, Eric Goossens, Toon Roebben. Directed by Bibo Bergeron. Script, Stephane Kazandjian, Bergeron, according to an authentic story by Bergeron.Voices: Adam Goldberg, Jay Harrington, Danny Huston, Bob Balaban, Sean Lenon, Vanessa Paradis, Madeline Zima, Catherine O'Hara, Matthew Geczy. (British dialogue)A terrifyingly overgrown flea works out to become harmless and pleasant in "A Monster in Paris," and thus does French animator Bibo Bergeron's funny valentine to retro horror and musical conventions. Evincing a warmer, more personal touch than his splashy Stateside characters "Shark Tale" and "The Street to El Dorado," this homegrown production warbles its way via a bevy of excellent-natured Gallic cliches along with a sweet if scarcely inspired story about unpredicted friendship and also the infectious energy of song. Still, it is a decently created kidpic unlikely to attain monster-hit status outdoors Gaul, where it opens March. 12. Unfolding inside a grey, mist-enshrouded Paris circa 1910, the film takes excellent benefit of its turn-of-the-century setting by tipping its beret to numerous technological improvements from the period. The outlet reels pay brief, affectionate tribute towards the era of quiet cinema having a peek at the black-and-whitened reels proven by film projectionist Emile (voiced by Jay Harrington). Bergeron and Stephane Kazandjian's script experiences some leisurely exposition before presenting the eponymous monster, a flea magnified to gargantuan proportions because of a freak accident overseen by Emile's zany inventor friend, Raoul (Adam Goldberg). Fallout out of this unfortunate incident involves Paris' mayor, Victor Maynott (Danny Huston), a rotten bully wishing to exterminate the animal and boost his political cachet and Raoul's frenemy/love interest, Lucille (Vanessa Paradis), a nightclub chantoosie who befriends the misinterpreted monster, names him Francoeur, helping unlock his latent musical gifts. A spontaneous lounge act, by which angel-winged Lucille supplies the vocals while a whitened-masked Francoeur comes with on guitar, provides among the film's two hummable highlights, another as being a bewitching number entitled "La Seine" (the tunes and score were composed by M and Patrice Renson). These interludes prove more consistently directing compared to story, which tosses off a number of twists, deceptions and chase moments as Lucille and her buddies attempt to hide Francoeur from Maynott it's all regulated engaging enough, but never kicks some misconception a notch to create the preferred amounts of narrative invention or excitement. Facial animation favors the kind of comic exaggeration that causes it to be simple to disregard the characters' clearly scanned features and artificial-searching hair around the non-human side, obvious care continues to be come to make Francoeur look benign although not exactly affectionate. While no d.p. is credited, the painterly skills and delicate modulation of lighting and color tonalities from scene to scene betray a cinematographer's sensitivity, proven to get affordable effect in three dimensional. Images from the Eiffel Tower, the Sacre-Coeur along with other Parisian landmarks blend using the film's wet weather designs to create this an abnormally lovely, melancholy mash note towards the Town of Lights. Voicework around the British-language version examined was topnotch, with Paradis' musical perf the obvious standout. (Color/B&W, three dimensional) editor, Pascal Cheve music, M, Patrice Renson music supervisor, Alexandre Mahout production designer, Francois Moret art director, Neil Ross animation director, Fabrice Joubert primary figures designer, Carlos Leon set design supervisor, Sebastien Piquet primary figures modeler, Michel Guillemain seem (DTS/Dolby Digital), Samy Bardet, Thierry Lebon, Nicolas Stretta seem designer, Bardet effects supervisor, Laurent Gillet visual effects supervisor, Jo Plaete stereographer, Rodolphe Chabrier assistant director, Bertrand Schutz. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (TIFF Kids), Sept. 10, 2011. (Also in Busan Film Festival -- Open Cinema.) Running time: 90 MIN. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

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