Sorry, I'm not gonna write in French for the whole review! By the way, I watched the French & English versions of the film so I'll be comparing them as well as the songs.
Rating: ***
Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Sean Lennon, Gad Elmaleh, Adam Goldberg, Danny Huston
OK, take Beauty and the Beast and the Phantom of the Opera in 1910 Paris during the flooding of the Seine. What do you get? A rip off that's what!
OK, I'm being a bit harsh since there are some elements which are different like the scientist sub-plot & the flooding in Paris. OK, 2 friends Raoul, a delivery boy and Emile, an aspiring filmmaker are sent to deliver things to a scientist at the Botanical Gardens in Paris who happens to be away somewhere in Europe! Raoul (Gad/Adam) screws up an experiment & creates a potion which turns a flea into a monster which everybody fears & is instantly in the papers in Paris. Local cabaret singer Lucille (Paradis) makes friends with the flea & names him Francoeur (French for 'honest heart'). He becomes a musical genius & has to don a disguise so the police can't find him. The investigation is led by Comissioner Maynott (Huston/) who wants Lucille for himself so he can become a hero while in reality, he's an ass-hole (does that sound familar?)! So Raoul & Emile find Lucille & they team up to save Francoeur from the police.
OK, the plot is surprisingly complicated for a kid's film! I.e, there's the floodings in Paris as well as Lucille's aunt, voiced by Catherine O'Hara wanting Lucille to marry the comissioner so they can get money & so her niece can have a better life, 2 romance angles, one of which I don't care about but has relevance to the plot and the other is so pointless I didn't give a shit at all & had no point to be there! It's so predictable you know what's going to happen even if you don't know the whole plot! Also, the characters are rip-offs but some are given their own charm while the others are blatant rip-offs! Did I mention Lucille's aunt was called Carlotta & was a bit of a diva? Did I mention Raoul is a bit-shot & knew Lucille since he was a kid? Did I mention Lucille is constantly forced to sing at this event to lure Francoeur so he can be killed? Did I mention there's a line Lucille says which is directly stolen from Beauty and the Beast? ('There is a monster in Paris and I'm looking right at him!'/ He's no monster Gaston, you are!) However, there is some subtle comedy, like Francoeur writing music at a piano like The Phantom of The Opera!
One thing that confuses me is if this was made in France & distributed in France first, why is the lip syncing for the English dub? Did they do the English dub first? The text is all in French yet a sign the monkey holds up is in English, it seems a bit cluttered. And the grunts and sounds were clearly from the French dubbing so that would confuse kids with the French. Also, the trailers in English would call Francoeur 'Frank', yet he's always called Francoeur despite the fact the American actors never pronounce his name properly. Only Lucille does considering, I don't know, HER VOICE ACTRESS IS ACTUALLY FRENCH!
One other thing that confuses me is that, while Francoeur can sing, why can't he speak? He only roars, chirrups or hums as well as singing & it's never explained!
OK, with the voice acting, I much prefer -M- compared to Sean Lennon! I'm not saying Sean was bad, in fact he was better than I thought & sounded much like his father, the great John Lennon. It's just with -M-, his voice was much more soothing & more easy going to listen to & he has an incredible voice! Heck, he provided the guitar music Francoeur would play AND composed the score. Vanessa Paradis AKA Johnny Depp's now ex-wife, is the only actor to do both the French and English dubs of the film and is really good! While her character isn't so compelling or well developed & is basically every Disney Princess & Christine Daee in one, you can see she makes an effort and can be pretty funny. One example is when she says this line which always cracks me up 'Raoul, if we die I'll kill you!' OK, Adam Goldberg to me was a bad casting choice since, I think he tries too hard to make Raoul be cocky and to me is more like a car salesman who wants to live life! And the hatred since childhood turns into romance plot is pointless, since it's way too predictable & we never see any proper chemistry between Raoul & Lucille! So, I don't like the romance between Raoul and Lucille & don't be surprised, they basically French kiss at the very end in a scene which had no point to be at the very end of the movie! I think it would've been better to put it NEAR the end, but not at the very end! His friend Emile is only there for the romance I don't fricking care about so he's one-dimensional & pointless! It falls into the syndrome of a film which doesn't know what it wants to be: a musical, horror, POTO, comedy, a kid's film, a historical film about Paris?
So one of the biggest flaws is the voice actors in the English version! With Vanessa Paradis using her natural French accent and everybody else using their natural American accents, it seems really mixed up & are only there to appeal to an American audience in case there's an actor they recognize.
Also, the pacing is too fast & only takes place in maximum three days so it doesn't give me time to take everything in, especially the chase scene in Paris. The third act is the strongest part since it finally slows down & takes time to show everything.
The first act was the weakest since all there is is Raoul & Emile who I don't care for & stupid running gags which aren't funny the first time such as one of Raoul having a straw coat for some reason & him lying that it's fur while everyone knows it's made of straw! Also, the dialogue isn't very good, especially from the Comissioner who's the archetypal villain we all know & is just so boring!
While the character animation is clunky and lazy at times, the attention to detail with the background animation in Paris was perfect, especially the architecture of the buildings. One good example is in an actually funny chase scene leading to the climax at the Eiffel Tower, which was so beautiful to look at. Also, I think Lucille's costumes were the only ones to have any attention to detail and at least it's not like Hoodwinked! So it's not the best animation I've seen, but it's not the worst either while it's quite inconsistent. At times it can be smooth but at others it's jerky and the character design is also quite nice and fits in with the distinctive and bizarre look of the film (try to notice the gap in Lucille's teeth as a homage to her voice actress!)
The songs aren't bad, but I suggest you listen to the French versions because they're much better since the lyrics are more flowing while the English ones are a bit clunky. The title song Francouer sings has a pretty melody while La Seine & Un Petit Baiser (a little kiss) makes you wanna tap your toes. Papa Paname (Papa Paname) also has a nice beat to it but Love is in My Soul is my favourite since it actually has relevance to be there and is expressing Francoeur's feelings, as well as showing the moral of the story. Also, the English lyrics are as good as the French lyrics in that song!
So, the French version wins me over with better voice acting, script and the songs being nicer to listen to. However, this didn't really stop me from noticing the plot holes & the one dimensional characters & the bad writing for the English version. But if you're a fan of French architecture and animation, then check it out! So overall ce n'est pas mal en anglais!
By the way, I have one question: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS OBSESSION WITH SHIPPING FRANCOEUR AND LUCILLE ON DEVIANART AND TUMBLR?!
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