LMU Homework - The Triplets of Belleville - 2 of 15

This somewhat silent film style animation, has quite a different story. The general plot... a little boy lives with his grandma (I'm assuming his parents have died) who tries constantly to make the boy happy, she buys him a dog... which helps but when she figures out he truly wants a bike she gets it for him right away. The boy's life is focused on training for the tour de france. In the race the boy along with two other of the last racers... are captured by the french mafia and put into a sort of derby-gambling bike show as a money making scheme. All the while the grandmother is in desperate search for the boy with his dog companion. When she starts to give up hope she befriends the triplets of belleville (old singers). They make music together until one day they discover the mafia and are able to team up to track down the boy and take down the mafia. The movie ends with a lovely chase scene where the old ladies kick butt!

Overall the main thing that surprised me was that this 2 hour was story was quite engaging for being nearly silent! The sound was either music or the over dramatized sounds of life. The animation was quite awesomely done everything was very big and proportions being completely distorted were very surreal.

There was a lot of satire in the film... Belleville seemed to represent New York. People are animated very large... obesity seemed to have a certian beauty or status in this society. The dog dreams made me laugh... and they were in black & white.

All in all a very interesting film and a very unique and unconventional way of telling a story. Watch it.