The Triplets of Belleville

ToB is a film that pays respects to the classics in many ways. These respects are given not only through the story and music but a good majority of it to the animation style(s). The beginning scene(taking place in the 1930s on a television) is done entirely in the noodle armed "Felix the Cat" style that was widely used at the time. Once it cuts to Grandma Sota and her grandson, the designs take a turn for the more detailed caricatures you see on the cover. Each exaggeration is meant to fit each character's personality as well as their role in the story and it is executed beautifully. The music pays homage to the jazz scene in 1930s with jazz improvisation and gypsy jazz(including many animated "cameos" from famous musicians at the time XD). The title song "Belleville Rendezvous" can feel overdone after repeats during the course of the movie but to the credit of the filmmakers they do mix it up by making it a different tune evert time the song does role around. Also, the movie is almost entirely lacking in narrative which is great to me because I believe subtlety for the most part makes a film stronger but it may be a turn-off to some who are more appreciative of the art of dialogue than I. My only grip with the English version is that a good majority of the little narration there is stays in French. If they going to go to the trouble of making an "English" dub than I think it stands to reason that more than 2 out of 15 of those lines should be dubbed. Otherwise could I at least get the option of having subtitles! As for the story...I think there is more to the PG-13 rating than the (animated) Josephine Baker boob clip(which in my personal opinion is silly but oh well). The movie does contain some gritty drama and dark humor that isn't (in my opinion) suitable for kids under the tweenage years. A couple of examples include a dead pig in a butcher's window shop being tied to a mechanical bike as an ad for the Tour de France and a man getting shot in the head off screen...& dying...this ain't the Looney Tunes verse. But overall it is about the lengths one will go to rescue a family member even if the odds are stacked against them very high! At the end of the day, I do consider this a family movie (just for the slightly older crowd) and I would also suggest it to someone looking for a unique animated film. I enjoyed it and hope you will too! :)

This is the most amazing animated movie and to actually find it brand new is almost impossible. It was 'such a deal'. My grandkids love it and are now in high school. It's never offered on the mass selection of Spectrum channels. I will never loan it out again.

Triplets of Belleville isn't just an animated story about triplets...it's a fantastic overview of life, as seen through the eyes of someone with what can only be perceived as an amazing mind. The graphics, music, colors, and storyline will keep you engrossed from beginning to end. Want to eat - use some old impact grenades to kill frogs. Want to make music - pick up random items in your home and form a band. Want to win a bike race - train your prize stallion (I mean son) to ride like no other. That and more awaits you in this animated peak into chaos. Very little dialog is contained throughout this piece. Instead the director chooses to use music and visuals to convey what is going on - and achieves it beautifully throughout. The music alone keeps you engaged and is worth a separate investment. The story, while a bit odd at times, is also rather fun, when you consider this is made by the French, who likely view bike races (Tour de France) as epic and heroic. Overall, this film is certainly a great find amongst the countless duds that seem to have been coming out as of late. Too many poorly written scripts or crudely animated stories have been littering the shelves, but thankfully The Triplets of Belleville attempts to break that cycle (pun not intended). There are some mild adult instances in the film (hence the PG-13), but nothing that should prevent most viewers from enjoying this deliciously entertaining animated French film.

Madame Souza is a (Portuguese) sweet grandma who worries about her orphaned grandson's great sadness. Nothing interests Champion, at all; it's touching how Madame Souza cares about him and constantly watches him in order to find out what would possible bring the boy some happiness - watch TV, a piano, a puppy dog. So, when she discovers that Champion's biggest interest in life are bikes, she immediately gives him a tricycle - and the little one is pure joy when he sees it in front of him. Champion grows up to be a professional biker (coached by his beloved - and demanding - grandma) who takes part of the famous cycle race Tour de France. However, something wicked comes to his way when he, in the middle of the race, is kidnapped by sinister men in black and taken to Belleville - making Madame Souza and her faithful dog Bruno start a long journey to rescue him. In Belleville, they meet the Triplets of the title, three very eccentric old ladies who back in the day were famous singers. A wonderful, touching and interesting story, with charismatic characters and beautiful drawing. Almost without dialogue (it isn't really necessary), we see the most unusual instruments being used for massaging (a lawnmower, a vacuum cleaner and a whisk) and playing music (a coffeepot, a refrigerator, a newspaper and, again, a vacuum cleaner); we meet the Triplets living in an old, crappy building and having for dinner frogs, frogs and more frogs; and, finally, we watch four old women, a very fat dog and two skinny guys fighting the Mafia - all with our eyes glued to the screen. For me, one more thing makes "The Triplets of Belleville" even more appealing - the dog Bruno. He just *is* my deceased Basset Hound Hommer... All Bruno's little quirks are very real - he isn't a dog's cartoon, who talks, thinks and bosses the humans around; he is just a sweet chubby dog, and that's what I love in him!

The Triplets of Belleville was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature (losing to Finding Nemo) and Best Song (losing to Into the West). Virtually a silent film, the story involves a sad boy (Champion) and his caring grandmother Madame Souza. At first, the boy is inconsolable over the loss of his parents. Desperate to cheer him up, his grandmother tries to get him interested in a piano, then a fat puppy, and finally a tricycle. Years later, the boy is a man and his only passion is for cycling (to the exclusion of all else). While competing in the Tour de France, Champion (along with two other cyclists), is kidnapped and taken to Belleville to work for the French mafia as a racer in a betting house. Madame Souza, with the help of her obese dog and the Triplets of Belleville, mounts a daring rescue. The artwork involved is nontraditional to say the least. The imagery is at once grotesque and strangely beautiful. All the characters are wildly exaggerated, either painfully thin or extraordinarily obese. The henchmen are like boxes with heads. The characters make sounds rather than speak (the cyclists whiney like horses, one small mechanic sounds like a mouse). The humor is sly, the music is inspired (I also bought the original soundtrack); it's a fun film as long as you don't expect it to be along the same lines as Disney or DreamWorks. It is not for children.

This is one of my all time favorite movies I love, and identify with, the hero. She is wonderful and her deeds bring me to laughter, joy and tears. The movie plot is never predictable therefore it keeps your eyes open to the experience. The story is not like anything you have seen before and is hard to describe. Here are some descriptive words about it: animated, extremely limited spoken words (is that all there is?), lovely and contagious music, frogs, devotion, no 'beautiful' people. For me, the story is about regular people keeping love in their life with the tools at hand. The 'tools' include devotion and physical effort. The characters live their lives with joy despite physical handicap, deprivation, subjugation. It is a wonderful movie and I expect that you will be enchanted by it.

I had a friend visit me in the US. She didn't really speak English and I don't speak Finnish. We could watch this movie together and enjoy it because there is almost no spoken dialogue in it - and it's still a great movie! The hero of the story is a club footed but very determined old woman. Make sure you watch it all the way through the credits, too.

A wonderfully imaginative film, which I had the misfortune to miss in the theaters. I've watched it twice since buying the DVD. Just some random thoughts here. I can't get the tune "Belleville Redezvous" out of my head, and I don't want to. Some reviewers mysteriously say that the character "Champion" is one of the top racers in the Tour de France. Well, no. Although anyone who even qualifies for le Tour is an elite racer, Champion is clearly at the bottom of that elite group, staying barely in front of the broom wagon, before he finally has to drop out, and (spoiler omitted). He's more the lovable also-ran type. But that leads to another comment. The DVD only has English and Spanish audio tracks, a fact that I should have noticed before ordering. This may seem unimportant, since there is almost no intelligible dialogue anyway. But in that case, why dub the few lines that there are? If it must be done, why not do it consistently? I would have preferred to see the original, with French (which I don't speak) and English subtitles. As it is, the TdF commentary is left in the original French *without* subtitles, so any background information it might have supplied is left untranslated. The only dubbed dialogue is a few lines such as "no money, no hamburgers." The disk subtitles are confined to things such as "dog barking", and "horn blowing". I'm not deaf; I just don't speak French. So, 5 stars for the film, 4 for the DVD.