Hitchcock once said, "If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on". This wonderful French animated adventure "Triplets of Belleville" does the trick pure and simple and not only puts Hitchcock's theory to work, but it manages to prove it without a doubt. It's very rare we get great films that are silent these days yet manage to tell more of a story than any mainstream Disney film could ever hope to tell. Hitchcock would have loved this because it does an incredible job putting that theory to work throughout the entire story which has no dialogue whatsoever from any of the characters, but tells such a clear story. Why didn't this win for the Animation Oscar over the fluffy cavity-inducing "Finding Nemo"?

Stupidity, politics (Don’t want none of them French persons winning our Oscars!), Corporate pandering at its purest. "Triplets of Belleville" is so subversive and surreal, and such a beautiful portrayal of dim pale colors and colorful characters. "Finding Nemo" was good and entertaining, but hardly a film of substance and imagination, "Triplets of Belleville" would surely be a starting point for any artist, because this is what I just said: it's art, pure and simple. When her nephew is kidnapped during the Circuit de France, Madame Souza and her dog obese dog Bruno set out on a mission to find him along with the famed Belleville sisters, once a famous song and dance team.

Sure, I'll be the first to admit I'm an art house goon, okay, but films like this just have to be seen by the masses while we were flooded by non-stop promotion for "Finding Nemo". Why this of all the animated films of this year were mostly black and white artificial films, this is just real art telling a story with quirky weird characters, and beautiful direction. Come on people, open up your minds beyond the one dimensional Disney storytellers! Yes, people will say, this is a hard film to advertise and market, but don't give me that boneheaded narrow-minded excuse. If we can be bombarded with advertising for the ridiculous and awful cat in the hat, we can be bombarded with art like this. We deserve to be bombarded, and anyone who appreciates animation and storytelling should watch this.

Though the film may be too weird for some audiences, this is worth watching solely for the fact that its quality is heads above what Disney wishes they could ever produce. Beautiful animation, surreal imagery, funny quirky characters and engaging situations make this a gem that should be discovered.

[   Link to Us   |   FAQ   |   Top^   ]
All written reviews material and content are a copyright of Felix Vasquez Jr. and Cinema Crazed.
Content borrowed without written permission will not be permitted.

¤ ¤ ¤