Sadly Over-hyped

Beautiful, moving film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This was the final movie I had received from my brother as a gift. As usual, we spent time today viewing it. I came into this movie not knowing what to expect at all, considering the DVD case had an awkward focus. Anyway, what lies inside?One thing inside is a story that offers a minuscule quantity of darkness (there is one scene that is genuinely horrifying while most of the others are either surreal or just strange), some action at the end, and highly effective humor that emulates those of 40's and 50's cartoons (think Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies style slapstick). Going on with the humor, it also incorporates more contemporary visual gags such as a noticeable but not distractingly high amount of gross-out. It all comes with just sporadic dialogue, but is paced and conveyed in a manner that the plot is easier to understand than other films with infrequent voicing (one of the reasons why I wasn't overly pleased with The Red Turtle). The eponymous Triplets, while not the main characters, are indeed the true stars of this movie, for they provide the most memorable ideas in how Madame Souza learns about their lifestyle and contribute to the humor during the action segment at the end. While Mme Souza, Champion, and Bruno are indeed the focus very early on, and do have an interesting story, I honestly felt that the Triplets were the characters who made this movie; after all, they are The Triplets of Belleville. The animation features mostly hand-drawn environments that are interspersed with cel-shaded objects and CGI effects, including the characters in the Tour de France scene. It works exquisitely as a style combination and marvelously enhances the visual gags such as Belleville's counterpart of the Statue of Liberty. There is the music too, which isn't too memorable but is undeniably catchy and, conceptually, is ear candy. The Triplets' music reminds me a lot of the occasional street bands we get in the Loop, as they use scrap to play a type of music only the stone-brained could ignore. Frankly, it was a pristine connection to have.If you enjoy French animation, movies that are on the opposite side of the character dialogue spectrum than Planes, 30's to 40's style movies, or even animation in general, I'm sure there is something in this film that will make you walk out pleased. Granted it isn't too ambitious, but probably reservation was the best thing for this movie considering how its setting was like that IRL. I enjoyed it, and you might too.

I have two problems with this movie. First, as my title indicates, it is boring. It is ungodly, irredeemably boring. There were times in the movie where I had to fast forward as I couldn't take the nothing that was going on. They seem to not like speaking too much in this film so a lot of the film is bathed in awkward silence with barely any music, which only punctuates how flat and boring it is. I mean, yeah the finale was...okay, but that doesn't excuse over an hour of nothing.The second biggest thing is the animation. Dear god is this film ugly. Yeah, I know it's stylized, but that does not excuse the fact that the style is UGLY. Just because you MEANT it to be ugly, doesn't make it any less ugly. The characters are bland, and as they hardly talk they are made even MORE bland, and the backgrounds don't help with their surreal blandness.This is one of those movies where when you are watching you go 'man...I could be doing something else right now' and that is the number one sin a movie can possibly make. Questioning why you are watching it.Is it the most painful and horrible animated movie ever? ...no, it's just ungodly boring. I don't care how different it is, or how it took a chance, or how surreal it is. If it is boring, it's still boring no matter what kind of bow you put on it. Not for kids, not for teens, not for adults...I would say the only time you should watch this movie is if you are an art student and need a film to write a report on. Other than that...give this one a skip.

Many animated films bring forth a recognizable presence on screen, but The Triplets of Belleville brings the damnedest of them all. It's a unique little animated feature, with a lot of style, a lot of heart, and a lot of enigma and illusion presented in its meager runtime. It is a delightful break from the polished mainstream animation, yet I don't believe it's the break a lot of people will be so willing to take.First off, the color pallet takes time to adapt to. It seems someone created storyboards for the film and poured oil all over them. Everything is in a dim green, brown, yellow, or muted tint (very different from the brazen style of candy colors we're so used to seeing today). But it is so limitless and appealing and works on such a wonderful level for the film's imagination. It makes itself out to be modest, yet delivers so much promise and life into its very simplistic screenplay, or lack thereof.The film is mostly silent, punctuated by lively scenes of vaudevillian style musical numbers. We follow Madame Souza, a grandmother to a boy named Champion. He is depressed and very lonely after the implied death of his parents. Souza buys him an irresistible dog named Bruno, but his interest is only held for a short time. When Champion develops a fondness for competitive cycling, Souza buys him a tricycle. We fast-forward several years later where the same boy, now a man, is being coached by Souza for the Tour De France.When he races in the Tour De France, he is kidnapped by the strangest of goons and taken to an unknown location. Souza and Bruno become desperate to find him, and stumble into the care of three elderly women known as the "Belleville Triplets." They are taken in, fed and sheltered, yet are still determined to find Champion and the French henchmen that took him.Besides the unique animation, one of the first things you will notice is the intense and quirky character design. Many characters in the film are disproportionated in size, or are presented as bigger, bulkier, smaller, thinner, wider, or boxier (the henchman have thick, box-like shoulders), with heavy emphasis on muscles and especially facial structure. The result is totally mesmerizing and extremely beyond convention. It gives the film such a surrealistic feeling, but that's not the only thing that contributes to that idea.I define surrealism as realism with a strong twist on obscurity or a strong twist on reality, where logic is strictly applied or noticeably bent. The Triplets of Belleville mixes some live action sequences with stylish old video, particularly, the bike stimulation sequence and the water when traveling at sea. For all I know, those were authentic sea currents.Another thing the film does impeccably well is it conveys emotion using very little dialog. Most of the time, we hear a soft, melodic tune play comfortingly in the background, and once in a while, the triplets will break out into a great, perfectly executed musical number. The emotion is not presented through the window of heavy sentiment, but with crystal clear expression, music tonality, and character appearances all naturally and not in a heavy-handed manner.The Triplets of Belleville is such an admirably different film, but saying that doesn't even do it justice. It establishes this world, which is brilliantly surreal and conceived effervescently, erects it on captivating whimsy and Sylvain Chomet's stunning animation, and relies on subtle, controlled nuances to carry itself through its runtime. Keep in mind, this is a world where animated films are boastful and boisterous in their color, design, and structure, and along comes a film so serene and joyous that we are surprised at it and ourselves for liking it. What an impressionistic gem of a picture.Directed by: Sylvain Chomet.

A wonderful humorous animation semi-mute adults movie that tells the story of cyclist Champion, his Grandma, and their unwanted adventures in America. This is a Franco-Belgian-Canadian production which has as main characters a Portuguese grandma, a French cyclist, and three American sisters.There is a huge list of elements to praise, all of which give the movie a special something that keeps you entertained and enchanted, with a big smile in your face. In fact, time flies when watching this movie, and that is always a great sign.The animation looks like old-style hand-made Miyazaki-sort-of-animation, both in style and fluidity of the images, the quirkiness of the characters and the action. On the other hand, the characters are not flashy young super-doodle people, but mostly a group of old women, an overweight dog, and some nasty Mafiosi, all of whom are beautifully (and funnily) drawn. The characters rarely speak, just mumble a few words, make guttural noses, and sing some songs, but they are always very expressive. The story is really well told despite the almost non-existent dialogs.The movie has an awesome soundtrack, with golden-era Jazz and Motown classics, and some classic music pieces that convey the ambiance and atmosphere of the 1920s-50s New York perfectly. In fact, the recreation of New York as Belleville has a lot of art-deco, with a twist of Europe (the skyline of Belleville resembles an European castle) plus a contemporary projection of the image of Americans in European mentality (the inhabitants of Belleville are morbidly obese) creating something that is oddly beautiful and original.Specially brilliant are the scenes of the crossing of the Atlantic, the watching of human programs in TV by the cartoons, the diet of the triplets, and, above all, the surreal black and white dreams of Bruno the dog.The only thing I did not like, which I think it ruined the magic of the film, was the car persecution at the end, which I found childish and resolved in a hurry, and the end.Said this, this is a brilliant movie with a delightful script.