I have seen quite a few European animated features over the years and most of which, have been just about watchable.So when A Monster In Paris arrived, I was a pretty much in the same boat even before viewing... Regardless, I took our 2 kids along and was pleasantly surprised!Yes a few jokes fall flat, but hey - the attention to detail and musical numbers quickly take that away and leave you with a huge smile on your face. That noted, we watched it again last night and the kids are still singing the songs this morning...A Monster In Paris is a delightful family film, void of the over powering Disney Pixar and even Dreamworks moral crap that is thrust in our faces. This is just genuine fun and beautiful to watch!Enjoy!!

This apparently was released as a 3D movie but I saw it on DVD from my local library, at home in 2D.The story is fairly entertaining but one thing I did not like, and never like in movies, whether animated or not ... the characters do some incredibly dumb things to facilitate the story. Other than that it is a nice little story, although towards the end the use of a gun to shoot at and try to kill the "monster" is a bit off-putting.The story involves several interesting characters in early 1900s Paris, and love of course is part of the story. But the main event that sparks the rest of the story involves two young men making a delivery to a large exotic greenhouse of sorts, and in spite of a clear warning "not to touch anything" they merrily began to screw up and then mix a potion which causes things to grow unnaturally large.Some of this affects a tiny flea that grows large enough to stand about 7 feet tall, it busts out of the top glass of the greenhouse and invades Paris. He is the monster. But he in fact is not a monster, is very gentle, can sing and play guitar, and falls for Vanessa Paradis as the stage singer Lucille . She recognizes his goodness but the authorities just want to destroy him.So much of the last third of the movie is his being chased and avoiding getting killed. I suppose if there is any message, it is to not be too quick to judge the value of others who might be quite different.

Clearly NOT an American production. The graphics are decent, the characters are fairly developed, the motions of the characters is a little stiff. SO why did I like it so much ?The culture is very cool. The humor is subtle, you must pay attention. The hints woven throughout the story are subtle. The artwork arouns France is very beautiful. They paid super attention to foggy, turn of the century Paris. Nicely doneBUT the real magic is in the singing, music and dancing. The characters, particularly Lucille, come to life in the song and dance. Lucille's motions while performing are better than anything I have seen come from any other animated movie. The subtle swirl of her dress, her hips perfect movement in rhythm, her facial expressions, hand motions are immensely cool. My daughter and I cranked up the stereo and watched her first number several times over and over. If this is what we can expect from French animated movies. BRING IT ON. Once you get past the rough edges of the character animation and some of the character development, the story and music have a pizazz dialed in that makes this a classic. VERY COOL. give 'er a spin.

Having seen the preview and admired the cityscapes, I was disappointed to see that here in Israel the movie was strictly a matinée feature and dubbed into Hebrew. No showings for us folks who work during the day and would prefer subtitled French. I picked up a pirated copy, which turned out to be dubbed into English. I found the opening tribute to early French cinema a little tiresome, but I have no problem being patient while a well-deserved tribute is made. Then as the archetypal Parisian characters were introduced, I found the portraiture amusing. There was a long wait before the title character appeared and before the first song, and I found the first song less interesting than the later ones (although that may be intentional). The dance movements were nicely animated although a little sexy for a children's movie; overall I think the movie seems to have been conceived under the philosophy of "something for everyone" rather than "everything for kids." After a while, the stereotyped characterizations wore thin and there seemed to be less compensation for those of us missing 3D. I actually fell asleep during the big chase sequence near the end, which I suppose was some kind of a roller-coaster ride for the 3D audience. By the time it was over, the movie had evidently achieved everything it wanted although not always a lot of it at the same time.