An orphan who lives with his grandmother grows up to be a cyclist who, with that same grandmother as his coach, goes on the Tour de France. There he is kidnapped, and the grandmother in search of him arrives in America where, with the help of a faithful dog and a trio of elderly singers, she performs a crazy rescue mission.
The film stands out at first sight with its retro surreal animation, bizarre humor, and dark atmosphere. It's extremely ugly in a nostalgically overwhelming way. Also, it is almost completely dialogue-free, accompanied by interesting music. I also liked the tributes to Django Reinhardt, Charles Chaplin, Josephine Baker, and Fred Astaire, as well as the iconic Citroën 2CV. There are more that I won't list now, and I probably didn't even notice many of them. But that's where the praise ends.
Although there are several humorous, entertaining, and touching moments, they are dissolved in 80 minutes of a linear, simple story about two-dimensional and unimpressive characters, which for the most part balances on the edge of boring. The whole movie is one big caricature, promising at the beginning, but then it continues to repeat itself endlessly and soon stops holding attention.
6/10.
The film stands out at first sight with its retro surreal animation, bizarre humor, and dark atmosphere. It's extremely ugly in a nostalgically overwhelming way. Also, it is almost completely dialogue-free, accompanied by interesting music. I also liked the tributes to Django Reinhardt, Charles Chaplin, Josephine Baker, and Fred Astaire, as well as the iconic Citroën 2CV. There are more that I won't list now, and I probably didn't even notice many of them. But that's where the praise ends.
Although there are several humorous, entertaining, and touching moments, they are dissolved in 80 minutes of a linear, simple story about two-dimensional and unimpressive characters, which for the most part balances on the edge of boring. The whole movie is one big caricature, promising at the beginning, but then it continues to repeat itself endlessly and soon stops holding attention.
6/10.