A Cat in Paris
The DVD for A Cat in Paris has an English soundtrack with voices by American actors Marcia Gay Harden, Anjelica Huston, and Matthew Modine, but I chose to listen to the original French soundtrack with the English subtitles, just to keep it Gallic.
A brisk 65 minutes long, A Cat in Paris is about just what you think it would be. A cat, ostensibly belonging to a little girl named Zoe, has free reign of the city at night, and chooses to spend his time as the sidekick of a cat burglar named Nico. Zoe is mute, traumatized by the death of her father, a policeman. Her mother, a police superintendent, is tracking down his killer, a gangster called Victor Costa.
Things get perilous for Zoe when the new nanny turns out to be a mole sent by Costa. Nico ends up coming to her rescue, and there are numerous chases along the city's rooftops, and a climax at the Notre Dame cathedral.
The direction is by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, and the animation is very stylized, like the illustrations from a children's book. The heads and feet are drawn in an unusual style, as if the noses started at the top of the head and the feet were stuffed into high heeled shoes. It works, though, especially with the dramatic music, composed by Serge Besset.
The film is for all ages, but ideally for kids around 10 to twelve, I would think. It can be a little intense, but it's also funny, as the henchman of Costa are bumbling nitwits. But if I were a little kid, the scenes in which Zoe's mother imagines Costa has a vicious octopus would scare the bejeesus out of me.
I also have to say I'm not a cat person, but if I had a cat I'd want one just like Dino, the title feline.
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