"A Cat In Paris" : Rusitc Animated Mystery

Audiences today seem to define current animated films as those glossy 3-D studio pictures that became the standard in the industry thanks to the success of Pixar. Long gone are the days when studios devoted themselves to hand-crafted traditional animation. In part because of the need to be more efficient to meet the demands of the business, and because the CGI approach fits with the trends of modernity, of hyper-realism, and the growing need to wow the viewer time and time again. In a sense these animated films have become a cliche, each looking more like the one before, disposable and destined to be forgotten. Currently, an animated film created in the "ancient" way is something to get excited about, something to be cherished and admired. These rare gems have in recent year come from foreign countries, the most common examples are the works from Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose film "Spirited Away" earned him an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

The Academy recently has set its eyes more and more on animation produced abroad, nominating some of these films in the past few years: "The Triplets of Belleville", "The Illusionist", "The Secret of Kells". However, they always lose to the big studio pictures, not necessarily because those are superior in content or technique. This year the Academy decides to nominate two foreign animated features the Spanish Language "Chico & Rita" , and "A Cat In Paris". The latter is just one unique film that I doubt can be compared to anything else, peculiar in its visuals and even more particular in its plot. Just over 1 hour, the film develops, and in a great manner, a series of subplots, villains, noir-like heroes, an animal lead, a side story of a kid losing her dad, all with beautiful animated vistas of Paris. Did I mention the film runs only for 64 minutes? Its amazing how each sequence, each line of dialogue, and each character are precisely placed to create suspense, in an adult-friendly children's animated film in French. A bit too far for the radars of many movie goers, but trust me this is just so well directed and drawn, that even the title sequences feel like out of a Hitchcock film.

The film tells the story of a little girl named Zoe (Bernadette Lafont) and Jeanne (Dominique Blanc), her mother, a police officer in search of her husbands killer. As a result of that tragic event the girl has lost her ability to speak as a post trauma side effect. She spends he time playing with an astray cat who roams around her neighborhood but always comes back to her. This cat has a double life, he is also the sidekick of a burglar named Nico (Bruno Salomone), who specializes in jewelry theft. Jeanne finds out that gangster Victor Costa (Jean Benguigui) plans to steal a monumental statue on its way tot he museum. Costa is the guy she is after, a brute villain who has kept an eyed on Zoe through one of his accomplices. When Zoe decides to follow the cat in one of his nighttime escapades, she discovers Costa's plans and is helped by Nico to hide. This unravels a series of chases throughout Paris, suspenseful rescue missions, and a great story about bad guys who aren't so bad, smart felines, and the search of a family for justice. Pretty intense and cool for a very concise animated film.

The animation feels rustic, not perfectly beautiful characters,a bit of a comic strip feel, but overall very elegant and I would say French, as it is hard to think a story like this and the way presented could come from another culture. Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower at night have never been so beautiful from the roofs of Paris, as we see them from the point of view of Nico and the cat. These two characters who are not so different from each other, both of them living a sort of double life. The cat a loving pet and a partner in crime, and Nico a burglar but also a nice, harmless guy. Even secondary characters like Costa's gang members seem very well developed. They are a bunch of naive knuckleheads who are upset at getting ridiculous code names, it feel like a clever reference to Reservoir Dogs. There is also this sort a psychological thriller vibe the film in the shape of hallucinations or bad omens that Jeanne has as she imagines Costa as an all consuming octopus. This haunts her and becomes her motivation. Even Costa himself has some sort of visions about the Colossus of Nairobi, which the statue he wishes to steal. Like I mentioned, a very interesting film for adults and entertaining and sweet for the younger audience, a win win situation for all.

If you are open to leave the Toy Stories and Nemos of the world for a bit, and enjoy a very beautifully crafted animated film that feels like a very well written mystery novel, then "A Cat In Paris" will show you a good time. Short in running time, but with numerous achievements, the film will go by quick so enjoy it while it lasts. Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol this charming hand- drawn delight is  out in Blu-ray/DVD today. Grade A.