Belleville Rendez Vous (Sylvain Chomet, 2003)

I enjoyed this quirky but beautifully animated film. It's very slowly paced. The time is used to introduce you to characters and for you to get to know them. There's almost no dialogue so time is spent just living with the characters. Together with the highly stylised animation, this builds up a great atmosphere.

The plot is rather bland and a far cry from a Hollywood script. It's not pretty and some scene are somewhat grotesque. Some also might find the extreme caricatures offensive but I thought they added great humour to the film. Our children watched it with us and liked it too but it's certainly not a children's film. 

If you enjoy animation as an art form, I'm sure you'd enjoy immersing yourself in this film. It seamlessly combines 3D and 2D animation techniques. If you want a snappy plot with gags and a standard happy ending, you'd be better off watching something else.

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