The Triplets of Belleville [PG] - French

A grandmother buys her depressed grandson a bicycle, fuelling his love of the sport and encouraging his competing in marathons and events. But one day, whilst cycling in the Tour de France, he gets tired and is tricked into getting into a van driven by some sinister men in black suits. These turn out to be henchmen for the French mafia and they take the poor boy, along with two other fallen cyclists to Belleville where they are made drunk and forced to compete in gambling entertainment for the mafia. But hope is not lost as Grandma is hot on the trail to rescue her grandson with the help of his dog Bruno and three aging vaudevillian sisters: the Triples of Belleville. 

Battling against Finding Nemo for Best Animated Feature back in 2003, The Triplets of Belleville is a cute and delightfully quirky little film that I quite enjoyed (once I adjusted to the caricatured animation and general bizarreness that is). This is a great little example of how animated features can entertain the entire family without being too geared towards the kids. It harbours pretty much everything from gangster violence and car chases, to extreme eating patterns, and adventure. It’s really rather wonderful. 

A grandmother buys her depressed grandson a bicycle, fuelling his love of the sport and encouraging his competing in marathons and events. But one day, whilst cycling in the Tour de France, he gets tired and is tricked into getting into a van driven by some sinister men in black suits. These turn out to be henchmen for the French mafia and they take the poor boy, along with two other fallen cyclists to Belleville where they are made drunk and forced to compete in gambling entertainment for the mafia. But hope is not lost as Grandma is hot on the trail to rescue her grandson with the help of his dog Bruno and three aging vaudevillian sisters: the Triples of Belleville. 

I’ll admit that you do have to persevere with this film. The animation is very caricatured and exaggerated with all the characters having elongated limbs or bizarrely disproportionate bodies, be they fat or thin. And there is a minimal amount of dialogue too, which is actually none too bad for the people in the audience who struggle with subtitles. Although whatever dialogue spoken is in French, you can quite easily get the gist of the film and its happenings without words at all. 

The caricatured animation of this film is actually really quite stunning because it is so different and refreshing, making The Triplets of Belleville a highly inventive and imaginative film that everyone will get something out of. 

Featuring the voice talents of Beatrice Bonifassi, Lina Boudreau, Michele Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Mari-Lou Gauthier, Charles Linton, Michel Robin, and Monica Viegas, The Triplets of Belleville is a delightfully quirky little film that’s filled with action, adventure, kidnapping, gangsters, music, comedy, and memorable animation. It’s a film that is a bit weird to love at first, but it’ll definitely stay with you.