SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

diegogarcia668 A fantastic film, which makes you feel depressed, and feel nostalgia. Amazing and straight forward story, minimalistic yet realistic animation, which critiques the lives' of the modern man, with deep meanings and many references to the life in the 50's. The caricatures of the mafia, and the over caring grandmother are hilarious. The movie also is very depressing. If you watch it till the end, you instantly have a feeling in your stomach, especially after the last scene. The deterioration of the house, is also extremely saddening, and you really root for the characters, mostly for the granny. I recommend you watch it and be prepared for an emotional roller coaster.

Sam Smith I remember the first time I watched this movie, it was with my parents when I was around 10 or 11, and I remember thinking, "what the hell just happened?" and you may too, after the first time. This largely wordless animation comes from the great Sylvain Chomet, a brilliant animator who's only other full length movie is The Illusionist, which is just as good and should be checked out if you like this one. To summarize, this film is pretty far out there in obscurity, most people I've asked about have never heard about it, and it's pretty easy to see why. The film is chock full of bizarre quirks and weird happenings, I won't deny it, and the character models are incredibly ugly and deformed, but you have to agree there is some level of charm to them, and the setting is beautiful. I could gush about this movie for hours, but please give it a shot, its something else.

Red-Barracuda Belleville Rendezvous is the debut feature film from French animator Sylvain Chomet. Like its equally impressive follow-up, The Illusionist, it's a highly original and beautiful piece of work. Its story tells of a boy and his grandmother Madame Souza who live in the French countryside. One day she buys him a bicycle and it becomes his obsession. Fast forward a few years and he is competing in the Tour de France but is kidnapped by mysterious Mafia types and taken to the city of Belleville to be used as part of an elaborate gambling scheme. Madame Souza and Champion's faithful dog Bruno set off to rescue him.There are two things that make this film an absolute delight – its wonderfully inventive and quite beautiful artwork and its extremely effective sense of humour. The animation is consistently wonderful and the backdrops gorgeous. It feels so very French and incredibly authentic; it has a real organic feeling to it. The characters which populate this world are brilliantly rendered too. The relationship between Madame Souza and her grandson Champion is genuinely heart-warming, while both generate many laughs – especially funny to me was Madame Souza blowing her whistle at the mechanic who fixes her vehicle in order for him to up his pace. But funniest of all is Bruno, who has to be the all-time best animated dog ever; what makes him so good is that despite being a cartoon, he actually behaves hilariously realistically dog-like throughout. We follow his daily routines and, again, he is entirely believable and lovable. Once we arrive in the big city we encounter The Triplettes of Belleville and the gangsters; the former are an unforgettable trio of eccentric tall old ladies who in one highlight perform a musical routine purely using household items, while the gangsters are very original too, with the box-like heavies and rodent-faced engineer being particularly good. Even peripheral characters are greatly amusing, such as the fawning waiter who literally bends over backwards for his customers! The humour throughout, is inspired and the world created a fantastically original one.I think you would be hard pressed to find another animated film that combines visual invention, artistic beauty, musical innovation and laugh-out-loud humour as effectively as Belleville Rendezvous. It's a real joy.

smmoehrman The first time I saw this movie, I was in high school and it was the first foreign film I had ever seen. As there was hardly any dialogue, I was able to focus on the story-line, as well as on the details of the animation. I found the animation to be highly surreal and similar to the style of caricatures. This movie was hard for me to watch because I didn't know where to focus my eyes, due to the fact that I had never seen anything like it before. While it's not a movie that I want to watch again, it is great for everyone to see at least once. It is a very creative film, with many assets, it is just not for me. However, I very much enjoyed seeing a foreign perspective on the US, not something I see often!