A Cat in Paris (2010)

What was that ugly movie you were watching? are the exact words my mother said as I finished watching A Cat in Paris (Un vie de chat). Well, it's truly a shame people still judge things by the way they look, especially if that means missing out such a nice film.

In Paris, Dino is a cast who leads a double life. By day, he lives with Zoé (Oriane Zani), a little girl who hasn't spoken ever since her father was killed, and her mother (Dominique Blanc) who is a police officer. By night, he works with Nico (Bruno Salomone), a burglar. The two lives eventually cross paths as the ruthless gangster Victor Costa (Jean Benguigui) kidnaps Zoe. 

Honestly, the story isn't anything special and it isn't that original either. It's pretty much the basic crime story and it's very simple (it does have a twist though). But its simplicity is what made it work for me. It does have many loose ends and leaves a lot of unanswered questions (what I'm trying to say here is that the movie would have benefited from a longer running time), but, and in spite of the predictable ending, it was still able to keep me interested throughout the entire film.

The characters aren't that special either. The bad guys are stupid (pretty common in cartoons), and the development is basically non-existent, but they are good characters and it's impossible to not care for little Zoé and not root for Nico. 

Gébéka Films

It's a bit violent at times, when the gangster and his crew are on screen, but it works with the dark and gloomy atmosphere. Some may say it's not kid-appropriate, but in my opinion there's a lot worse than this on TV nowadays. 

At last but not least, I need to mention the animation. Sure, it's not your typical jaw-dropping Pixar animation everybody loves, but the hand-drawing are really nice, and the use of watercolours is just beautiful.