The Triplets of Belleville

ToB is a film that pays respects to the classics in many ways. These respects are given not only through the story and music but a good majority of it to the animation style(s). The beginning scene(taking place in the 1930s on a television) is done entirely in the noodle armed "Felix the Cat" style that was widely used at the time. Once it cuts to Grandma Sota and her grandson, the designs take a turn for the more detailed caricatures you see on the cover. Each exaggeration is meant to fit each character's personality as well as their role in the story and it is executed beautifully.The music pays homage to the jazz scene in 1930s with jazz improvisation and gypsy jazz(including many animated "cameos" from famous musicians at the time XD). The title song "Belleville Rendezvous" can feel overdone after repeats during the course of the movie but to the credit of the filmmakers they do mix it up by making it a different tune evert time the song does role around. Also, the movie is almost entirely lacking in narrative which is great to me because I believe subtlety for the most part makes a film stronger but it may be a turn-off to some who are more appreciative of the art of dialogue than I. My only grip with the English version is that a good majority of the little narration there is stays in French. If they going to go to the trouble of making an "English" dub than I think it stands to reason that more than 2 out of 15 of those lines should be dubbed. Otherwise could I at least get the option of having subtitles!As for the story...I think there is more to the PG-13 rating than the (animated) Josephine Baker boob clip(which in my personal opinion is silly but oh well). The movie does contain some gritty drama and dark humor that isn't (in my opinion) suitable for kids under the tweenage years. A couple of examples include a dead pig in a butcher's window shop being tied to a mechanical bike as an ad for the Tour de France and a man getting shot in the head off screen...& dying...this ain't the Looney Tunes verse. But overall it is about the lengths one will go to rescue a family member even if the odds are stacked against them very high!At the end of the day, I do consider this a family movie (just for the slightly older crowd) and I would also suggest it to someone looking for a unique animated film. I enjoyed it and hope you will too! :)

Madame Souza is a (Portuguese) sweet grandma who worries about her orphaned grandson's great sadness. Nothing interests Champion, at all; it's touching how Madame Souza cares about him and constantly watches him in order to find out what would possible bring the boy some happiness - watch TV, a piano, a puppy dog. So, when she discovers that Champion's biggest interest in life are bikes, she immediately gives him a tricycle - and the little one is pure joy when he sees it in front of him.Champion grows up to be a professional biker (coached by his beloved - and demanding - grandma) who takes part of the famous cycle race Tour de France. However, something wicked comes to his way when he, in the middle of the race, is kidnapped by sinister men in black and taken to Belleville - making Madame Souza and her faithful dog Bruno start a long journey to rescue him. In Belleville, they meet the Triplets of the title, three very eccentric old ladies who back in the day were famous singers.A wonderful, touching and interesting story, with charismatic characters and beautiful drawing. Almost without dialogue (it isn't really necessary), we see the most unusual instruments being used for massaging (a lawnmower, a vacuum cleaner and a whisk) and playing music (a coffeepot, a refrigerator, a newspaper and, again, a vacuum cleaner); we meet the Triplets living in an old, crappy building and having for dinner frogs, frogs and more frogs; and, finally, we watch four old women, a very fat dog and two skinny guys fighting the Mafia - all with our eyes glued to the screen.For me, one more thing makes "The Triplets of Belleville" even more appealing - the dog Bruno. He just *is* my deceased Basset Hound Hommer... All Bruno's little quirks are very real - he isn't a dog's cartoon, who talks, thinks and bosses the humans around; he is just a sweet chubby dog, and that's what I love in him!

The Triplets of Belleville was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature (losing to Finding Nemo) and Best Song (losing to Into the West). Virtually a silent film, the story involves a sad boy (Champion) and his caring grandmother Madame Souza. At first, the boy is inconsolable over the loss of his parents. Desperate to cheer him up, his grandmother tries to get him interested in a piano, then a fat puppy, and finally a tricycle. Years later, the boy is a man and his only passion is for cycling (to the exclusion of all else). While competing in the Tour de France, Champion (along with two other cyclists), is kidnapped and taken to Belleville to work for the French mafia as a racer in a betting house. Madame Souza, with the help of her obese dog and the Triplets of Belleville, mounts a daring rescue.The artwork involved is nontraditional to say the least. The imagery is at once grotesque and strangely beautiful. All the characters are wildly exaggerated, either painfully thin or extraordinarily obese. The henchmen are like boxes with heads. The characters make sounds rather than speak (the cyclists whiney like horses, one small mechanic sounds like a mouse).The humor is sly, the music is inspired (I also bought the original soundtrack); it's a fun film as long as you don't expect it to be along the same lines as Disney or DreamWorks. It is not for children.