Duckyworth's Thoughts: A Monster In Paris ~ 2011

Director: Bibo Bergeron

Rating: U

My rating:

Bonjour, mon amis, and welcome to my next Duckyworth’s Thoughts review!

Yep, as we’re getting closer and closer to the big 200, I’d like to dedicate the reviews running up to the milestone as a chance to review films that have been on my hit-list for quite a while, and to start off with – here’s a review of a film that I’ve actually been meaning to watch ever since I started reviewed. Yes, ever since I started reviewing I’ve been meaning to see this film, but it was only recently that I saw the film on TV. And what do I think of the film itself? It’s pretty good. Not the best out there, but I’m really happy I saw it. And after reading a lot of Asterix and Obelix comics recently, I’ve been looking forward to watching some more French media. So, let’s travel to Paris to meet… A MONSTER IN PARIS.

Directed by Bibo Bergeron, the same director from Road to El Dorado and… Shark Tale (but to be fair, it’s perfectly possible for a good director to make a bad film, and I have heard Road to El Dorado is really good – another film I’ve been meaning to watch) and an animator on films like Fievel Goes West, Ferngully, The Iron Giant and Flushed Away, this film is a very warm little film about the creation of a foreboding yet innocent creature who develops a love for music, and becomes a singer at a cabaret theatre, while the two who accidentally created the creature try to hide him from the local authority figure, who wishes to capture the creature to increase his popularity. While this film isn’t the best one out there, I will say that I have to praise it for its high amount of charm it has – both in character designs, the cute moments in the story and the music it has. The concept ALONE is what caught my attention with this film, and after Ratatouille showing just how lovable and cute a RAT can be, I’d like to see this film make a cuddly GIANT FLEA of all creatures. So, as they say in France – ‘allons-nous commencer?’

The film takes place during the 1910 floods, beginning by documenting the flooding of the River Seine that year in the opening news reel – and I do like the use of old timey news footage that was actually shown at the time. After this, the cameraman at the theatre, Emile, voiced by Jay Harrington, has a fantasy about him starring in the short film being shown about a brave man saving a damsel in distress from a dragon, mixing it up with his own insecurities about asking his crush Maud, voiced by Madeline Zima, on a date to the zoo – resulting in a kind of strange mash up of a classic romance story – with a… crocodile turning into a dragon. Weird – but not as weird as Ludmilla’s transformation into a dragon. I do like how his fantasy of the dragon setting his umbrella on fire corresponds to the film melting in the theatre as Emile nods off, and has to use his…. Belt to fix the projector. Just outside, as the nicely animated streets of Paris are shown, and Emile is leaving for the day, his friend Raoul, voiced by Adam Goldberg, comes by in his salesman van that he’s affectionately named Catherine. At first, I will admit I did find Raoul to be a tad annoying, but he does become more likeable as the film goes on. I also have to admit that the romance between Emile and Maud does… sadly get a bit sidetracked in the end and it feels like that due to the whole monster thing and some problems with the film’s pacing I’ll mention later, some of the screentime that could have been focused on the romance between these is sacrificed, sadly.

Now, the animation in this film, considering the fact that this film had a lower budget than many of the animated films to come out at the time, is actually pretty good. Don’t get me wrong, it is a bit stiff in places, and there are some moments when the animation isn’t as polished as some animated films to come out at the time, but I do find a lot of charm in the character designs, the way that they designed France (once again, it’s similar to how well Ratatouille portrayed Paris – during more modern times, true, but still), and of course, the monster design later on. And hey, it’s much, MUCH better looking than Alpha and Omega – a film which only came out a year before. And need I compare A Monster in Paris to Mars Needs Moms to tell you which one has better animation? In fact – it looks cleaner than Norm of the North – which may not seem like it’s saying much considering Norm of the North’s animation, but considering the TIME that A Monster in Paris was released, it becomes a very strong statement – both to A Monster in Paris’ credit and Norm of the North’s negate.

As Emile and Raoul drive around through Paris on Raoul’s delivery job, I do like the light hearted approach that is put into the conversations these two have, such as the two commenting on each other’s flaws. The humour is nothing absolutely extraordinary, but I was still amused by it throughout the film. Raoul cracks some Sly Cooper esque puns (Sly spends a lot of his time cracking lacklustre puns ) – such as some egg puns I end up smiling at, and showing that Raoul has allergies to birds, and that he has rather questionable taste in fashion – including a coat that is quite literally made of straw. Emile goes into the local pawnbrokers to get a new belt, while also buying a new film camera which…. Gets stolen by a rather shady looking thief who almost looks like those stereotypical people you’re told to stay away from in school. Meanwhile, Raoul is shown to be an amateur inventor, who tries showing a customer a remote controller for his van, and with his remote, ends up knocking out the thief who tried to mug Emile – including a moment with the fertilizer bags he’s delivering falling onto the thief. Okay – as the scene jumps forward to the next one – here’s perhaps my first little nitpick about the film’s pacing. Some of the scenes don’t really meld into each other – it just feels a bit odd when the scenes end and the next one starts at the start of the film. It’s hard to explain, but the end and start of some earlier scenes are a tad abrupt and there are one or two scenes that end up dragging a tiny bit. But luckily – one thing I DO have to give the film credit for is that every single thing they bring up serves a purpose – it may seem like a tiny little thing that they brought up the remote control for the van, but I do have to give the film credit for working all the little gags and observations into the later part of the plot – including the straw coat running joke, the remote control and the mention earlier from the newspaper salesman that we see that the local Commissioner is dropping in popularity as the flood levels continue to rise.

Next up – it’s time to head to one of my favourite sets in the film – the laboratory of the professor that Raoul is delivering the fertiliser to – which, after doing some research, I found that is actually the Jardin des Plantes, a real botanical garden in Paris which was built in 1635. The part that they go into has a very big resemblance to the Mexican Hothouse section, shown HERE - upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… . Kudos to the film’s attention to detail for getting the design of the Hothouse down. Actually – one more comment on the settings – it feels a little bit like The Boxtrolls in the film’s old timey feel. A Monster in Paris has such a lovely and nostalgic feel to it, and seeing as that is exactly the feeling I got when I’ve been to Paris in the past, I felt the film evoked this very well. Even Raoul’s way of speaking doesn’t feel TOO out of place – I mean, his smooth talking may seem a bit weird, but I feel that there were suave people who were overconfident in themselves in the 1910s as well. The lab assistant, Charles, passes a note through the door to Raoul, saying that the professor is in New York for a conference. I have to give the film credit for making Charles, who is actually a proboscis monkey, as cute as he is. Because, let’s be honest…. In real life, proboscis monkeys look rather… homely. But I do find the character design for Charles very cute. And I do like the reference to Charles Darwin in his name and how he communicates through cards – similar to the way Mr Bobo uses cards in ‘The Pirates! An Adventure With Scientists.’ And he has a similar taste in hats to me! Raoul, of course, ignores the professor’s warnings to not walk around the greenhouse while he’s away and says Emile can use it as a chance to use his new film camera. Being a chemist myself, I really like the next scene - Raoul starts experimenting with the professor’s potions, despite Charles showing a chalk diagram of Raoul plus potion equals explosion. I really do like the creativity behind scenes like this with a scientist and these strange potions – such as an "Atomize-a-Tune" mixture which temporarily gives Charles the voice of an opera singer and an unstable "super fertilizer" which instantly grows a sunflower seed into a giant sunflower – which is very well animated by the way . Raoul sees the opportunity for creating sunflower oil for his van, but the sunflower soon topples towards Raoul and Emile – which is why you tie these plants to a branch to keep them from toppling over! Maybe it just wants to sing ‘Feed Me’. In the ensuing disorder, an explosion occurs and the two chemicals seen earlier are mixed – in an awesomely animated and kind of beautiful explosion. Everyone is unscathed, but Emile is convinced he has glimpsed a monstrous creature in the ensuing smoke. I do like the references to early horror movies in this film, such as the next scene which almost seems to have a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde feel to it – a scientist, through misuse of some kind of concoction to try and do good, ends up creating something completely unexpected. And that silhouette of the monster shown here is pretty awesome.

The monster jumps out the roof of the garden, and starts jumping around Paris, while unintentionally scaring everyone, while I… will admit, I can’t help but stare at the Palace of Justice on the horizon in the one shot – I can just imagine Frollo getting ready to sing Hellfire. Speaking of good music – the music in this part is pretty beautiful. Meanwhile, at the cabaret L’Oiseau Rare (The Rare Bird), another setting which is very well made, we get introduced to Commissioner Maynott, voiced by Danny Huston , his second hand man Captain Pate, voiced by Bob Balaban, Albert, voiced by Matthew Géczy, a bumbling waiter who has dreams of becoming an opera singer, and Madame Carlotta (no doubt a reference to Phantom of the Opera ), voiced by Catherine O’Hara, the owner of the cabaret theatre who denies Albert his chance for his clumsiness and his… well, less than able singing voice.

Okay, if you’ve heard about this film and seen the posters, I think it’s pretty bloomin’ clear that Commissioner Maynott is the villain of this film, but what I like about this villain is a similar manner to why I like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast as a villain. While Maynott isn’t as funny as Gaston, I still like the idea of a villain who, at the start of the film, is set up as the local hero and while is a bit difficult, does have some popularity due to his actions. And it seems that while Gaston was a local herodue to his strength, good looks and hunting exploits, Maynott wants to help people take their minds off the flooding disaster and their overbearing demands for him to quickly act to raise morale - despite his subordinate Pate, who seems like if Lefou was a bit more reluctant to follow Gaston’s orders, seemingly being a more detail savvy person and thinking more about diverting the water and distributing aid to the victims of the floods. More comments on character designs here – the design of Albert looks a bit like the cyclist from BelleVille Rendezvous, which makes me realise something about the character designs and why I think they have a certain charm to them – they seem very stylized with almost charicature-esque features to them. And I personally like these designs – it reminds me a bit of The Book of Life, in a way (except without as many of The Book of Life’s clichés and jerkish characters – yeah, one thing that bothered me about The Book of Life was that quite a few of the characters were douches to each other – which I’ll pick up on if I ever get around to review The Book of Life.) Speaking of similarities to Gaston – it looks like Maynott is trying to ask Carlotta to arrange a marriage between him and her niece, Lucille, who is a singer at the cabaret. Oh yes – time for another of my favourite elements of this film – the music. The music in this film is actually really, really impressive. And the singing of Vanessa Paradis is really, really gentle, but powerful at the same time. I will admit that this version of ‘La Seine’, while gentle and catchy, isn’t the best rendition of the song – just wait until later on. During this song, the monster listens in, seemingly as entranced with the song as much as everyone else.

In her dressing room, Lucille and her aunt take part in a very similar conversation to Belle and Maurice regarding Gaston – pretty much how despite their success and good looks, their personalities aren’t up to snuff. I would ask for the Phantom of the Opera to break in through a mirror, but that does not happen here. But enough of that – onto a more interesting scene, which to me, makes me feel that, like Monster House, this film is a bit of an homage to classic monster stories and old thrillers for the younger audiences. Two of the cabaret’s patrons go down a dark alleyway, as the man tries to pick up his wife’s broken pearl necklace – well, considering the fact that he’s got questionable faith to his wife, I think we know what would happen to him if this was, say, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. But instead, the two of them run, while the monster snags the man’s coat, scarf and hat. The next morning, the man tries to report this to the police, which leads to a pretty good joke - the police artist is simply taking a portrait of the man. The report is sent off to Maynott, who is trying to write a love poem to Lucille (‘What could rhyme with ‘great destiny’? I know! Me.’ ), while Pate is trying to not only lead the rapid response bicycle unit, but has also done some very good investigations into the monster. I actually really like Pate as a character – he’s this really hard working, really smart guy who puts his all into his work and does a good job organising everything, but his boss unfortunately doesn’t appreciate all the hard work he puts in. I kind of feel for him throughout this film – and actually MORE so than I do for Lefou. Don’t get me wrong, Lefou did bend over backwards to try and get Gaston’s approval, but Pate’s actions seem much more just than Lefou’s – Pate is a more morally sound individual. Pate’s report leads him to the Jardin de Plantes, while Maynott uses the opportunity to support his mayoral candidacy – being the hero the people need.

Raoul and Lucille meet up, and it seems that the two have known each other since childhood, and the two are picking on each other’s flaws. Lucille says that the only way she will let Raoul into the cabaret if he has a medal of honour. Just then, Raoul hears about the appearance of the monster, just as Pate and his men head to the Jardin de Plantes and find the destroyed potion bottles and a dropped roll of film Emile dropped – just as Emile and Raoul also figure out that they created the monster. Raoul’s line here is pretty funny - ‘He’s got your eyes, and my… hairy legs…’.

Instead of breaking into his crush’s house and trying to force her into marriage like Gaston did, Maynott takes a more civilised approach by talking over tea, while he tries speaking with fancy words to sound sophisticated – but describes the lower masses as cockroaches while calling those with great destiny as highly above them. Now, once again, I do find him to be a more sophisticated version of Gaston who seems to be a tad smarter in his tactics than just breaking into someone’s house and trying to take advantage of them – he’s still basically a cartoony bad guy, but I like the way the film makes him look more like a civilised gentleman. But I do like the way they show this rage inside him trying to break out (who is the monster and who is the maaaan? ), such as when his voice falters when Pate interrupts him, saying that he has Emile, Raoul and Charles - the three suspects for the creation of the monster, and gives a good account of how the monster was created – a flea from Charles’ fur was combined with the potions to create the monster. But Maynott instead praises the three of them for giving him a chance to prove himself, and gives them each a Medal of Honour. Not much to say about this scene – but I do like the way Charles rolls his eyes at Raoul saying it was ‘the monkey’s fault’ as it was his flea.

Suddenly cutting to the next scene (yeah, this film sure does jump around a lot, doesn’t it? ), it turns out that Albert sings as well as….. Snips and Snails’ ‘rap’ from Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks…. Ow. While it does… grate a bit, I will admit that Lucille’s reaction is pretty damn hilarious. Of course, Albert gets kicked out before he can burst any more ear drums, and bumps into the monster in another scene that feels like a nice little homage to classic monster films where someone walks outside and comes face to face with a monster. After Albert runs off, it turns out that the monster is not as… well, monstrous as appearances would lead you to believe, but Lucille accidentally knocks the monster over with the door, and when she sees his face, her reaction is… to be expected. And let me be honest right now – I ADORE the design for the monster. As well as being surprisingly cute for being a… well, a giant flea , I like the way the monster’s clothes he got from the man in the alleyway earlier gives him a kind of Invisible Man feel. Also, I really like the way he has a heart shaped head – most likely symbolizing the fact that he has a kind, passionate personality. And of course, the chirping effects are really sweet. When Lucille wakes, she runs away back inside – and I like how instead of following, the monster just stands there bewildered – after she understandably slaps him to get away, he doesn’t really react as such, he just doesn’t know how to react – almost like he’s… used to this. Daww, poor thing. Instead of following, the monster is instead hypnotised by the melody of the rainfall on the rubbish outside and breaks into a melancholy song about how everyone’s ostracised him for his short time as a giant flea and feels pain as a result…. It’s very, VERY beautiful… Now, to be perfectly honest, the first time watching this, Sean Lennon, the singer voicing the monster, seemed like an interesting choice. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Sean Lennon is a good singer, but the first time hearing the song ‘A Monster In Paris’, I thought his singing voice sounded a bit more effeminate than I was expecting. *boos from crowd* HEAR ME OUT, JUST HEAR ME OUT!! I just mean that the voice sounds a tad androgynous. But then, after listening to his singing voice more and more throughout the film, I got used the singing voice – it’s a very gentle singing voice, a bit like the lead singer from Ghost. And to the credit of the casting agents, Sean Lennon DOES sound quite a bit like the singer in the French version of the film. Lucille hears the monster’s singing – and if the monster is this film’s equivalent of the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, Lucille is definitely Christine Daae, as she takes pity on the monster, and offers him an umbrella to keep the rain off him. She names him Francœur – meaning ‘honest heart’ (a much better alternative to the stupid ‘happy heart’ in Flight Before Christmas ) – and lets him in from the rain. This film may be a bit fluffy in places for some people, but I just feel such a warm fuzzy feeling inside while watching it – it is such a cute film in places.

Lucille starts dressing Francœur up in a better disguise – a disguise that I wouldn’t mind wearing, as a matter of fact, as Francœur starts playing music on a comb. Just like with Anastasia, the inner fashion critic within me has to come out and say that the costumes in this film are really, really pretty – another example of the good character design in this film. However, it suddenly looks like the spines on his arms start shrinking in, making him lose his balance, and falling backwards, grabbing the guitar on Lucille’s wall, which he becomes enchanted with and can play incredibly well with. He does such a good job with it, Carlotta invites Francœur into the orchestra. Okay, here’s my main complaint with this film – the pacing is a bit off in the first two thirds of the film – it doesn’t spend as much time with setting up Francœur than I would have liked – the film takes a bit of time to get started, and because of this, some plot elements feel a tad rushed. Maybe if they spent some more time on showing Francœur becoming popular in the theatre, it wouldn’t have become as rushed. The pacing slows down and takes it’s time more in the last third, but in the first two thirds, while I appreciate this film having a smaller budget than many other animated films of the time, I feel that if they dedicated more time to the set up, I would have given the film a higher rating.

Raoul and Emile come by with their Medal of Honours and are invited to sit at the best table in the house. I will admit, the way Raoul says ‘twinkle twinkle, little star’ was a clever bit of writing into the way he greets Lucille. Just before the show starts, it looks like here comes another bit of the problem with the pacing being a bit rushed in the first half– in my opinion, I know that the cliché of ‘the two people say they hate each other but secretly love each other’ was bound to happen between Raoul and Lucille, but again, it does feel a bit rushed – seen as the two of them only shared one scene before this. It also feels the same with Emile’s romance with Maud – he finally musters up the courage to write a letter inviting Maud on a data, but again, I would have liked to have seen one or two more scenes with the two developing their affections for each other. I mean, the pacing isn’t as insane as Alpha and Omega 2, but like Brave, it is a bit of a shame that the first half of the film is quite rushed as a result.

Anyway, as the show begins, Francœur makes his way to the orchestra (by the way, how is it that the part with him accidentally scraping the guitar past the door is LESS painful than Albert’s ‘singing’? ) starts playing the guitar INCREDIBLY well, and it leads to my favourite song in the film – the second version of La Seine. Don’t get me wrong, the first one was brilliant too, but I feel the use of the guitar and the faster tempo of the drums fits the song better – and of course, Sean Lennon’s singing matches well with Vanessa Paradis. I also really like the animation on the more trippy parts of the animation where it shows Lucille and Francœur jumping around Paris as Francœur starts getting into the music and starts dancing on stage – it reminds a bit of a rock version of Everybody Wants to be a Cat from The Aristocats for some reason – especially with the use of the bright colours. Vanessa Paradis even sounds a little bit like Eva Gabor, in my opinion. And say what you will about the animation, but I do have to admit that the dancing animation is very well choreographed – with the weirder visuals almost looking a bit like a music video.

Raoul swallows his pride and realises just how talented Lucille is, as he and Emile go to congratulate them backstage – with Raoul finding it difficult to word compliments. Unfortunately, as they offer Francœur a handshake, he accidentally reveals his extra arms. Emile and Raoul figure out Francœur is not as monstrous as he appears, and they try to help clear Francœur’s name at the press conference Maynott will have the next day, where Maynott plans to use all the water in Paris to drown Francœur, promising a reward for information – which Albert, who was eavesdropping earlier, gives to Maynott as payback for Lucille snubbing him earlier. As Emile, Raoul and Charles (who was at the press conference… I guess they allowed monkeys into press conferences back then ) rush back to Lucille’s (after Emile gets a brief chance to drop off his love letter to Maud – yeah… see what I mean by it seeming a bit like a tacked on part? ) to warn her about the police, as Francœur is composing piano music in a cute way. By the way – I think I noticed what the streets of Paris remind me of – don’t they look a little bit like a more colourful version of the streets in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari? And speaking of cute, I can’t help but find the way Charles tips his hat to Lucille to be very sweet, and the way you can just see his tail in some scenes.

Also, maybe it’s just me, but Maynott’s leap from acting like a gentleman to turning into, well, Gaston, feels a tiny bit rushed. I mean, I know that the transition from Gaston’s song to the scene where he paid the asylum owner was only after a short amount of time Gaston had on screen, but considering the amount of time between when Maynott gave the press conference, and when he arrives at the cabaret and starts grabbing Lucille and forcing her to tell him where Francœur is feels a bit rushed in writing. Once again, because of how slow the pacing is in the first half, the second half suffers a bit because of it. As Maynott starts searching Lucille’s dressing room and can’t find Francœur – he starts going into King Kong mode – as he starts standing in a bit of a more feral pose. He quickly regains his composure, but arrests Albert for lying to the police. I will admit, the way he was standing in the beast-like stance earlier could just be a sign of him losing his temper rather than straight up snapping, and the way he regains his composure when apologising to Francœur before leaving was something I liked – even though I do feel the way he grabs Lucille was a bit too soon (for a transition for a character to go from being gentlemanly to being savage, I feel that it shouldn’t be until close to breaking point when he starts pushing people around), I do like the way it shows he’s not completely transformed into a savage yet when he kisses Lucille’s hand and has a much more apologetic tone – it’s a nice way to show that he’s not COMPLETELY insane yet, but he’s on the way to revealing his true colours. After he leaves, everyone comes out of their hiding places – (I love Charles’ expression when Raoul sneezes on him after coming into contact with the feather duster), and they come up with a plan to help save Francœur from Maynott.

The next day, it looks like that at Sacré-Cœur, Maynott is revealing the Montmarte Funicular, also while people are being invited to ride on a rather impressive blimp. Oh, I swear, if someone starts singing ‘Goodbye So Soon’ from Basil the Great Mouse Detective while someone rides that. Maynott announces his candidacy for becoming mayor, while he announces Lucille singing as the opening act – YAY, another Vanessa Paradis song – not much to say, but I will say that it’s yet another really beautiful song. While this is going on, Emile sneaks backstage, trying to offer Maynott an ‘antidote’ for ‘the monster’ – and it looks like our heroes are staging a play for a staged ‘killing’ of the monster. Francœur, dressed up in his more awesomely creepy set of clothes, pretends to take Lucille hostage, giving Emile the chance to ask Maynott to throw the antidote. As Maynott throws the antidote, Raoul pretends to stomp on the supposedly shrunk monster, but the ever alert Pate notices a scarf poking out through the trapdoor…. Uh oh. Looks like the jig is up, as Pate and Maynott find Charles and Francœur, who is forced to flee by jumping away.

After he tries shooting at Francœur, Maynott starts chasing our heroes who try to protect him, as our climactic chase begins. Once again – pacing problems arise – we’re 55 minutes into this 1 hour 20 minute film, and the next 20 minutes is a chase scene. Once again, maybe if the start of the film was a bit longer – like if they made the scenes with Francœur going around Paris a bit longer – it feels a bit like the first two acts are stuck on fast forward slightly. But with that said, I really do like the epicness and action in this chase scene – including a lot of cool moments like Charles ushering Francœur into the Funicular, and Emile, Lucille and Raoul riding on a billboard down the stairs – leading to a funny exchange. Lucille: ‘If we die, I’ll kill you!’ Raoul: ‘Okay.’ Okay, that exchange was hilarious. As Maynott turns into an axe wielding maniac, Francœur and Charles get thrown from the cable car onto a bus, as Lucille takes a bike with Lucille riding, and Raoul gets Catherine to chase them. In more examples of payoff, that thief from earlier gets knocked out again by the doors, as Maynott steals the blimp from earlier, and makes Pate start pedalling – reminding me even more of Basil the Great Mouse Detective. And if I had an axe wielding maniac asking me to pedal, I’d go like the clappers!

I also like how Raoul, in his nice development (as I said, he becomes more likeable as the film goes on), gets the mechanism in his van to work properly, as he opens up the sunroof to let Emile in, opens and closes the boot flawlessly to let Francœur in, and laughs after slamming into a picture of Maynott, crumpling it. I also give Charles a lot of credit as he not only drives a bus to help Francœur but dislodges some of the scaffolding to block the police from getting any closer to them. Now it’s time for the straw coat running joke to get some nice payoff, as Raoul feeds a horse in the road with it to pull a cart into the road, keeping the police from getting any closer. However, Maynott releases a claw from the blimp to grab the van, and Emile and Francœur, in a nice bit of teamwork, try to dislodge the claw. Meanwhile, Maud gives a guess that the place of their date is the Eiffel Tower based on the postcard, and heads there by boat. Maynott begins lightening the load of the blimp – not by throwing Pate off like Ratigan did with Fidget or Rourke did with , but by throwing the bags off the blimp, allowing the van to be lifted up, with a tiny bit of a groaner – Emile: ‘Oh my god!’ Raoul: *as the goods fall off the van* ‘Oh, my goods!’ …… Eeeeegh.

But in all seriousness, the submerged Eiffel Tower is a very nice place for the film’s final battle, as Francœur jumps to the top of it, but while losing his strength, and with his extra arms shrinking in. Alas, it seems that the fertilizer potion is only temporary, as Francœur suddenly notices that his arms are shrinking in – similar to the giant sunflower now shrinking in back at the greenhouse. Raoul cleverly uses the back door of the van to get them to the Eiffel Tower, and just in time, as Catherine sinks…. Emile runs up the steps to run into Maud, who, realising she only has twenty minutes left to contribute to the plot , joins them. Meanwhile, to lower the blimp, Maynott shoots the blimp, letting out helium. This helium balloon joke is pretty funny – maybe it’s my inner child, but the simple fact that their voices are getting higher and higher, while Maynott starts feeling the helium get to his head and laughs maniacally with a really funny facial expression tickles my funny bone.

Maynott suddenly shows his true inner Gaston, and jumps onto the Eiffel Tower to try and kill Francœur.

‘What’s the matter, flea? Too kind and gentle to fight back?!’

As Pate begins to realise the error of his boss’ ways (I like the way that, again, unlike Lefou, who despite Gaston’s jerkish actions still blindly went ahead with him, Pate has a conscience of his own and realises just what his boss is up to – kind of like Sullivan realising Jenner’s evil intentions in Secret of NIMH), Lucille and Raoul distract Maynott while Francœur jumps up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Another thing I find interesting is that, unlike many stories of this kind where the monster is forced to fight back, it’s all the people he’s befriended that are trying to protect Francœur from the real monster in Paris. While to some people, this may make the monster a bit of a pushover, I like the fact that it’s really showing that this monster truly DOESN’T have a bad bone in his body – which I personally find like a nice little change. Usually, one of the main conflicts in a film with a monster that the main character has to try and protect is that the monster gives in to primal instincts to fight the villain and the heroes have to snap the monster back to their senses, but here, like with Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, I find it interesting, and kind of cute, how the creature is the defenceless one. I also find it interesting how Maynott, after being BITTEN by Lucille to drop the gun , pushes her off the central part of the Eiffel Tower, with Raoul having to try and dangle down from the banister to save her, while Emile tries to stick up Maynott, but as he walks towards him, Maynott pushes Emile down the stairs…. Well, yeah, what did you THINK was going to happen, Emile?! Speaking of which – at the start of the film, I found it odd how the film looked like it was going to set up Emile as the main character, but in the end, Raoul is the one who gets the most development out of the two. Showing just how many uses belts can have, Raoul hangs down to help Lucille, as Emile sees the time to live out his fantasies from earlier, and borrows Maud’s umbrella to fight Maynott.

But okay, Emile does get a very awesome moment, when he gives Maynott a completely different kind of spotlight than the one he wanted – a flood light at the top of the Eiffel Tower, which dazzles Maynott, giving Emile the chance to knock the gun out of his hand, making Maynott lose his footing, fall over the banister and to the floor below….. Ouch. Meanwhile, Raoul remembers he has a fertilised sunflower seed from earlier (wait… WHEN did he put that in his pocket? ) and uses it in the water below (in a beautifully animated manner with equally beautiful music) to grow to a height to save them from the drop.

Emile and Maud have a…. weirdly animated kiss, as It seems that Maynott, climbing back up to the top floor, has shot Francœur…. And it looks like Maynott has gone off the deep end as he starts rambling to himself in self praise. Pate comes up the stairs at last, and gives one of the most awesome bits in the film. Accusing Maynott of wanton destruction in pursuit of his own ambitions, Pate places him under arrest for the premeditated murder of Francœur. I love the writing on this next line, and the way Pate’s voice actor delivers it – ‘There was more humanity in that flea than the LOUSE I see before me now!’ OOOH – BURN! DAYUMN, Pate, that was pretty epic! Everyone sadly rides the boats away from the Eiffel Tower, with a very melancholy song from Sean Lennon is sung – which is perhaps his best song in the film, as the professor from earlier is shown to have returned from New York, seeing what has happened with the giant sunflower.

Later that evening, Lucille is distraught by the "death" of Francœur, but Raoul, in one of his most humble and kind moments, convinces her to sing anyway – not for the crowd, or for Raoul, but for Francœur. Wow, dude, you really matured throughout the film, didn’t you? Once again – I know this going to be the fake out death that will come later – but to the film’s credit, we never SAW the bullet ring out from Maynott’s gun, we just heard the sound, and seen as how a shot from the FRONT could do more damage than a shot from the back, I feel that if an audience member saw this for the first time, they could very well think this could kill him. As I’ve said in the past, fake out deaths CAN work for me, but only if the thing thought to have killed them COULD have actually killed them. Whilst struggling to begin, she hears Francœur, restored to his natural size, sing in her ear – wow, even in a tiny state, Francœur’s voice is pretty damn strong, isn’t it? Actually, hang on a minute…. If the fertilizer wore off, why hasn’t the singing potion? It did earlier with Charles, but… I…. yeah, here’s a bit of a continuity error – the amount of time that the potions last for is a bit inconsistent throughout the film. Later, Raoul, Lucille and Charles explain the situation to Professor Porter (doesn’t the professor look a bit like Professor Porter from Tarzan? ), he permanently returns Francœur to human size - and after Raoul proves he has dancing skills akin to Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Carlotta and the newly promoted Commissioner Pate share a dance, Emile and Maud finding a good use for his film camera and Charles becomes the butler for the cabaret, receives second billing on the posters advertising Lucille's show. Wow – I’d pay good money to see that show. If Paris can have a restaurant where a rat can cook brilliant food, I’m not surprised that it has a cabaret where a giant flea is a performer. And best of all, this cabaret has no over-the-top stripper mice to be seen.

The film does fade to black after this scene, but there is actually one more scene before the credits roll, believe it or not. Now, the next scene is a bit of an odd scene to end on – a younger Raoul and Lucille are shown in a flashback. Lucille playfully takes Raoul’s toy car in the hopes that he would actually go and ask for it back, as they both had a crush on each other – now grown up, they confess their affections for each other, and then they kiss…. Erm, well, not that it was a BAD scene at all, but that was… an odd scene to end on. Not that I don’t see the reason WHY the scene was put in, but I just feel it could have been placed in a bit earlier in the film – perhaps showing a bit more detail as to the past they had. Oh…. WAIT…. WAAAAAAAIT A MINUTE. I just got it – RAOUL!! As in ‘Raoul the Vicomte de Chagny!’ It could have been another Phantom of the Opera reference! Also – I feel that, like with Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, some people may have been disappointed that Francœur wasn’t the one who got the girl, but…. *looks at Francœur and Lucille and considers what would happen if they got together* …. Come on.

Despite the odd ending scene, this film does have a very nice addition to the ending credits – a much BETTER version of Alpha and Omega and Kis Vuk: A Fox’s Tale’s ending credits of the film’s storyboards and concept art. While I would like to get the art book for the film, I do personally really like it when a film puts concept art in the credits – as it becomes a much stronger testament to the people who put this all this effort into making the film. And the drawings in concept art has a TON of charm to it – and a scene that I probably would have liked to have scene – Maud and Emile having a picnic. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the concept art, as… admittedly, there isn’t MUCH concept art there – I would have liked to have seen concept art of the creation of Francœur and all those lovely visuals in the La Seine song sequence – but what we get is quite nice. Everyone rides the giant blimp while dropping the fertilised sunflower seeds in the Siene to help drain the water caused by the flooding and fly off into the…. Cloud set rather than a sunset, as the credits continue. The actual final scene is a pretty funny one – the thief and Albert join Maynott in prison, giving Maynott the punishment he deserves – being forced to endure their terrible singing. Well….. I’m really glad that Francœur can make up for that raping of my eardrums – and Maynott’s reaction to the bad singing is pretty funny. But it won’t do anything to tarnish the lovely little melody this film has provided me with – true, the song is a bit shorter and a bit too fast in tempo for my liking at times with some rushed verses, but it’s still a very enjoyable and foot-tappingly enjoyable song nonetheless.

Although not among the best I've seen, A Monster in Paris does benefit with some nice animation, fun and creative action scenes, and likeable chemistry between the two main characters (which makes sense since director Bibo Bergeron also directed The Road to El Dorado). Plus the "monster" is not only presented as threatening, but also as a sympathetic being, which I think is the film's strongest aspect.

A pretty unique take (I guess) on the Phantom of the opera story

that is on my list of animated films I really need to get around to watching purely for the character designs

I haven't seen the movie yet, but judging by some videos and pictures that I got online, I bet it has a great story, great characters, amazing animation and visuals, and some great music.

  I've heard nothing but good things about this film. I wish to see it as well to see if it follows such praise.

My mom and I watched it two years ago. It was great! I especially loved the monster's voice.

 The main buggy character looks like Javier from Monsters University.

Most of the problems I have with the film are due to quite a bit of the film being sadly rushed in the first half, and as a result of this, it feels like quite a few elements in the film don’t get as much screentime as they could have – I’ve mentioned this quite a few times throughout the film, but I think this may have been due to there being a few budget issues throughout production or running out of time – just a theory, but that may be the reason why this happened. But despite the first half being more rushed than I would have hoped – there is still a very genuine charm to be gained from this film. I WAS expecting this film to be funnier – some jokes made me smile, and I liked how they use the straw coat running joke, but I wasn’t laughing like I thought I would. But on the other hand, for a family film to take a route which focuses more on emotion, I respect that. The character designs and music are the true highlights of the film, but I do like the development on some of the characters, Paris looks really pretty in the background designs, the animation is relatively good (a bit slow in places – but again, being a lower budget studio, I give the film credit for doing what it does ), and I do like the references to classic monster movies here and there. I think that if the film was a bit more developed in the first half with some scenes expanded out, the film could have been a much bigger hit, but as it is – it’s still a film I recommend watching at least once – even if just for the music and the character designs. It’s worth at least one viewing. And hey – it’s a giant flea singing and dancing – that ALONE is something that caught my attention hearing about this film. Even THAT alone makes the film worth a watch!

Next time, I’ll be taking a look at yet another very, very cute film, and one of the most underrated Hayao Miyazaki films out there. It was made before Studio Ghibli was formed – and it seems to be the spiritual predecessor to My Neighbour Totoro – and it’s just as adorable. So, join me next time, as I review – Panda! Go Panda! (But just a bit of a warning, there is an oddly high amount of…. Awkward jailbait in the next film…. )

UPCOMING REVIEWS

194. Panda! Go Panda!

195. Godzilla (1954)

196. Godzilla (2014)

197. Undecided - Belleville Rendez-Vous or The Illusionist

198. Undecided Horror Film

199. Undecided Don Bluth Film

200. DOMINATOR: THE MOVIE (Perhaps my new most hated film of all time)