![]() Nominated for an Academy Award for best animation against the formulaic cash cow "Finding Nemo," it may not stand a chance. The pooch waddles up and down stairs, he bays at passing trains, he will do almost anything for a treat, and in his occasional doggie dreams, he sees himself riding in a car, his head out the sunroof, jowls flapping.Įnd to end, "The Triplets of Belleville" is pure delight, an utterly original anime for adults and older children. Bruno is a tail-wagging catalog of canine behavior that will make any dog lover laugh aloud. They live one step above bag people, fishing for frogs in a river and boiling them for dinner, always happy to share what little they have. Chomet's Triplets are as resourceful as Madame Souza. His Madame Souza balances a bike wheel atop the stem of a wine bottle and hammers the spokes even. The cartoony nature of the plot notwithstanding, Chomet's riches are in the accumulation of keenly observed details. It is up to Madame Souza and Bruno to ride to the rescue, and a trans-Atlantic caper begins. Taken to a hideout where his cycling talents are put to cruel use, he is held captive and seems doomed. Champion races in the Tour de France, but mid-race, he is abducted by thugs. Madame Souza lives in a dingy Paris apartment with her grandson, Champion, who, with her help, becomes a hard-training, first-class bicyclist. The plot of "Triplets" always seems designed as much for action as it is for drawing opportunities. They are sisters whose advanced ages and form-melting decrepitude have not impaired their pristine harmonies or adventuresome spirits. The soundtrack is not a synthesizer-fueled series of showstoppers by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz or Sir Elton John and Tim Rice but lilting, catchy, old-fashioned scat songs sung by a trio of old biddies, a cabaret act of yore once billed as the Triplets of Belleville. His film's heroine is not a little mermaid or a cute fish but a severe, highly resourceful grandmother, Madame Souza, accompanied by her steadfast if somewhat lazy pooch, Bruno. His plot is both silly and quietly subversive. Chomet works in line drawings shaded by a subdued palette of colors.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |