A Cat In Paris
There is a plethora of French movies other than Amelie. That may sound harsh and obvious on the Foreign Fancies page, but there are people out there who seem to demean foreign language to just their subtitles. There is a definite language barrier when it comes to non-English language movies, confining their brilliance to the independent cinemas and failing to translate movies to their genuine greatness. A lot of people only tune in to foreign movies because there were forced to in language class, there is a lot of gore or they have been dubbed.
With this little repertoire with overseas films, most people miss out on genuine greatness. And this becomes more so with cartoons. A bit of a weird statement if you consider that a lot of animated movies are actually watched with English dubbing, but a lot miss the original childlike nativity and negate the original feel; the wonderment of the animation. But for the first time in 2010, two foreign animated features were celebrated as Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards, the first for the award ceremony. The first Chico & Rita and the other was this, A Cat In Paris.
Silent Zoe hasn’t uttered a peep since her father was murdered. Her mother, and Police Commisionair, is despaired by the death but will not rest until she hunts the murderer, Victor Costa, often meaning that Zoe is ignored and forgotten down. Zoe, however, has become intrigued with the life of her cat who disappears every night. As it happens, her cat is actually helping cat-burglar Nico make his thefts. But worlds, crime and events collide when Zoe decides to follow her cat and find out exactly what it gets up to.
A Cat In Paris is a wonderful movie somewhat simplistic drawings. Setting a style that hammers is more similar to the jazzy crude drawings of Picasso than the Sylvian Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville will be done soon.) If you have been influenced by Disney, then you can take a step back and wonder at the difference in animation. The animators chose symbolism, shadowing and imagination to make the colours dance. It is almost dreamlike and so captivating, it is a shame that it is just over an hour long.
The storyline is heavily enjoyable movie that has this childish heart too it. Without dumbing down a younger audience, this tale transfers well to all who watch it. Despite the adult theme of death and crime, the creators never patronise children who may be watching it. There is a certain depth here amongst the naivety and while some really young kids may find it too scary, it is just as good for all ages as any Pixar movie is.
A Cat In Paris is an exercise in great original art work combined with some interesting story telling. It is certainly one of the better animations of the decade that doesn’t substitute a story for technological perfection. After all, it is this stunning imperfection is what brings us in to a lesson of curiosity and cats.
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