One of the best films I've seen in a while, certainly far outshines other animation features witnessed of late. True animal characteristics for a change. Hugely imaginative, great entertainment, had me laughing out-loud. Three thumbs up!PS: I've gone off frog soup.

Quirky, standout French animation about a boy, his grandmother, his dream of competing in the Tour de France, and his kidnapping midway through the race. Somewhere along the way, they latch onto a trio of retired songstresses (the titular triplets) and from there, the ride grooves to a catchy, incessant makeshift beat. A free-flowing adventure in every sense, it's never half as serious as the premise seems to imply - even when the crew is dodging bullets in New York aboard the equivalent of a parade float. The artwork is wonderful; organic and over-exaggerated in the very best ways, and all-too willing to poke fun at its own eccentricities. Stylish, funny and emotive, with a colorful soul and a restless spirit, I was especially impressed by its ability to convey the story without a shred of essential dialog. No subtitles necessary, just enjoy the show.

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.

Many animated films bring forth a recognizable presence on screen, but The Triplets of Belleville brings the damnedest of them all. It's a unique little animated feature, with a lot of style, a lot of heart, and a lot of enigma and illusion presented in its meager runtime. It is a delightful break from the polished mainstream animation, yet I don't believe it's the break a lot of people will be so willing to take.First off, the color pallet takes time to adapt to. It seems someone created storyboards for the film and poured oil all over them. Everything is in a dim green, brown, yellow, or muted tint (very different from the brazen style of candy colors we're so used to seeing today). But it is so limitless and appealing and works on such a wonderful level for the film's imagination. It makes itself out to be modest, yet delivers so much promise and life into its very simplistic screenplay, or lack thereof.The film is mostly silent, punctuated by lively scenes of vaudevillian style musical numbers. We follow Madame Souza, a grandmother to a boy named Champion. He is depressed and very lonely after the implied death of his parents. Souza buys him an irresistible dog named Bruno, but his interest is only held for a short time. When Champion develops a fondness for competitive cycling, Souza buys him a tricycle. We fast-forward several years later where the same boy, now a man, is being coached by Souza for the Tour De France.When he races in the Tour De France, he is kidnapped by the strangest of goons and taken to an unknown location. Souza and Bruno become desperate to find him, and stumble into the care of three elderly women known as the "Belleville Triplets." They are taken in, fed and sheltered, yet are still determined to find Champion and the French henchmen that took him.Besides the unique animation, one of the first things you will notice is the intense and quirky character design. Many characters in the film are disproportionated in size, or are presented as bigger, bulkier, smaller, thinner, wider, or boxier (the henchman have thick, box-like shoulders), with heavy emphasis on muscles and especially facial structure. The result is totally mesmerizing and extremely beyond convention. It gives the film such a surrealistic feeling, but that's not the only thing that contributes to that idea.I define surrealism as realism with a strong twist on obscurity or a strong twist on reality, where logic is strictly applied or noticeably bent. The Triplets of Belleville mixes some live action sequences with stylish old video, particularly, the bike stimulation sequence and the water when traveling at sea. For all I know, those were authentic sea currents.Another thing the film does impeccably well is it conveys emotion using very little dialog. Most of the time, we hear a soft, melodic tune play comfortingly in the background, and once in a while, the triplets will break out into a great, perfectly executed musical number. The emotion is not presented through the window of heavy sentiment, but with crystal clear expression, music tonality, and character appearances all naturally and not in a heavy-handed manner.The Triplets of Belleville is such an admirably different film, but saying that doesn't even do it justice. It establishes this world, which is brilliantly surreal and conceived effervescently, erects it on captivating whimsy and Sylvain Chomet's stunning animation, and relies on subtle, controlled nuances to carry itself through its runtime. Keep in mind, this is a world where animated films are boastful and boisterous in their color, design, and structure, and along comes a film so serene and joyous that we are surprised at it and ourselves for liking it. What an impressionistic gem of a picture.Directed by: Sylvain Chomet.