Wow, People To all the folks on this board who think Disney is the only animation out there and this lame bit of fluff is some sort of cure....
You really need to watch some of the very innovative animation on US TV like South Park and some of the better Cartoon Network offerings. Go rent some Japanese animation such as "Spirited Away" (THAT was TRULY a magic experience).
I'm sure if we hunted around in other places on the globe we could find other entertaining animation, but believe me, this ain't one of them.
I had heard so much good stuff about this film, I was expecting to at LEAST see some good animation. OK, nice style, but as for the plot, characters, and yes, the very out of place and ugly stereotypes, I was either insulted or bored.
So, we have at the start Three French women who sing, and then a kid who wants to ride bikes. That's sweet, and for the first 15 minutes the film was watchable.
Then they launch into this stupid plot about Americans who have to go, yes, ALL THE WAY TO France (because even though Lance Armstrong wins the Tour year after year we're all too greedy and fat to have our own bike riders...? Huh? What?) and kidnap some poor, unsuspecting French bicyclists to be used as "race horses" in some sort of betting scheme. They drag the bicyclists over to what seems to be New York City (Belleville). This is a place with nothing but mean, fat people in it except for the triplets who are (of course) from France.
The unintentionally funny part to me about the American slams was the fact that they were so... lame.
I mean, c'mon, some stale stereotypes about fat, greedy Americans? If you're a clever satirist, you can make another person or country laugh at themselves and get some sort of communication going even while you make fun... but this? This was like something a five year old would write.
Put the shoe on the other foot and try to find something actually entertaining to say next time, OK people? Stop and think about it, I really doubt if Disney made a film featuring France as a place populated only by bigoted snobs and women who don't shave their armpit hair that the French would find it a laugh riot to show the kids.
So, the young man is kidnapped, the grandma goes across the Atlantic to save him (pulled by their trusty dog) and the Triplets of Belleville help grandma save the grandson from the oh-so-evil Americans. Uh, the end.
Aside from quirky little side elements such as the dog pulling the boat and the house in France leaning way back to accommodate a train track, there is nothing much else to this movie. The story is boring and the characters are either repulsive or dull.
In other words, it's a lot of trying-so-hard-to-be-charming little moments surrounded by hot air and not much else. Really, don't waste your time like I did.
You really need to watch some of the very innovative animation on US TV like South Park and some of the better Cartoon Network offerings. Go rent some Japanese animation such as "Spirited Away" (THAT was TRULY a magic experience).
I'm sure if we hunted around in other places on the globe we could find other entertaining animation, but believe me, this ain't one of them.
I had heard so much good stuff about this film, I was expecting to at LEAST see some good animation. OK, nice style, but as for the plot, characters, and yes, the very out of place and ugly stereotypes, I was either insulted or bored.
So, we have at the start Three French women who sing, and then a kid who wants to ride bikes. That's sweet, and for the first 15 minutes the film was watchable.
Then they launch into this stupid plot about Americans who have to go, yes, ALL THE WAY TO France (because even though Lance Armstrong wins the Tour year after year we're all too greedy and fat to have our own bike riders...? Huh? What?) and kidnap some poor, unsuspecting French bicyclists to be used as "race horses" in some sort of betting scheme. They drag the bicyclists over to what seems to be New York City (Belleville). This is a place with nothing but mean, fat people in it except for the triplets who are (of course) from France.
The unintentionally funny part to me about the American slams was the fact that they were so... lame.
I mean, c'mon, some stale stereotypes about fat, greedy Americans? If you're a clever satirist, you can make another person or country laugh at themselves and get some sort of communication going even while you make fun... but this? This was like something a five year old would write.
Put the shoe on the other foot and try to find something actually entertaining to say next time, OK people? Stop and think about it, I really doubt if Disney made a film featuring France as a place populated only by bigoted snobs and women who don't shave their armpit hair that the French would find it a laugh riot to show the kids.
So, the young man is kidnapped, the grandma goes across the Atlantic to save him (pulled by their trusty dog) and the Triplets of Belleville help grandma save the grandson from the oh-so-evil Americans. Uh, the end.
Aside from quirky little side elements such as the dog pulling the boat and the house in France leaning way back to accommodate a train track, there is nothing much else to this movie. The story is boring and the characters are either repulsive or dull.
In other words, it's a lot of trying-so-hard-to-be-charming little moments surrounded by hot air and not much else. Really, don't waste your time like I did.