Okay, if you've seen the dark humoured Delicatessan, then this is a film that follows up in its footsteps (with a familiar face in both). This time we again have some dark humour, but instead the story revolves around a lovable but odd character who befriends other lovable but odd characters, and they work together to bring down two arm manufacturers? Why (if a reason is needed to be explained), well our lead was shot in the head by a bullet and lost his father from a landmine.Now, this film easily transfers across languages. Mostly it is slapstick with mime. Very inventive and funny piece, with some good settings. Not over long either. Good acting and always seems to keep you on your toes.The problem though is that, as lovable as the characters are, you don't seem to be able to identify enough to take them enough to heart. I mean, you empathise and love the ride, but lacks some kind of emotion between the viewer and story, which is a shame. So sadly you don't love this as much as you otherwise wish you could.Don't get me wrong, it's a very enjoyable movie, but just not one I love.

As with the great directors, their films are to be compared to, well... their own films!. The mind of jean Pierre Jeunet has created worlds that that range from fairy tale (Amelie), post- apocalyptic (Delicatessin), science fiction (City of Lost Children) and put new twists on the war torn romance (A Very Long Engagement). These spaces of story telling are therefore protected from otherworldly logic, but encased in bits and pieces of sweet snippets, humorous entanglement and just plain oddness. We've come to expect this from our collector of such things as expressed on the big screen for our delight.His effort here is a bit in conflict with these endeavors. The reality of homelessness isn't that funny. The pain of a mother losing her daughters in a fun house is not something to mention in passing and the creation of "non-stop shenanigans" pieced together to make a point about the harms of war mongers seems to put the style in contrast with the substance. The visuals are entertaining and the vignettes almost all work but in the end the projected romance between our "Basil" and the annoying contortionist fails to illuminate the heart as the past romances in the other films mentioned above.I still enjoyed the film and the concluding "exposure" of our evil doers, but the Seven Dwarfs, as usually fun, kooky and endearing as past Jeunet inhabitants, could have skipped the circus act romance to wrap up the bow around our Snow White.

So it's a fairy tale - but not one for (young) children - unless parents want to get into a discussion of what land mines do to people.Heavy duty documentaries make little impact - I think the gentleness and total lack of reality here is an antidote for the dead serious issue at the center. This reminds me a bit of Dr. Strangelove characters: yes, over the top but - so it's not as if the reality isn't perhaps more absurd. Not too heavy handed in my view - the audience doesn't really need to struggle to understand and that's okay.A bit Chaplinesque, as well. And an underdog story - common in the movies, but then all story lines are repeated, with different characters and context, and the question is - is it done well? Since in real life, the underdogs get slammed, it's nice to see them win in an engaging film.

The opening sequence of back story and plot setting is a work of art in how to begin a good film. Get your audience involved and the rest, as they say, is just a question of how you keep them involved. This film could have been made anywhere but because it is French it is done with such finesse. There are so many moments of sheer brilliance, in characterisation, observation, humour, and sheer good fun, it is difficult to pick out my favourite moment, and, as I don't want to spoil the story I am not going to try. I will simply suggest that anyone who likes the image of underdogs battling against over-dogs will enjoy this so much they will, like me, see it all over again.Forget the subtitles they simply do not get in the way of anything, and instead just revel in a film with bucket loads of charm, brilliance, brightness, energy, and all the vim of a freshly opened bottle of best champagne.Wholeheartedly recommended with a thoroughly deserved maximum score.