LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE (2003) **1/2 The story is original, outrageously quirky, entertaining and darkly celebratory. Something about bicycle racing and crime and loyalty, and perseverance and experience. Very philosophical for an animated picture, nothing to let down the French side. The animation is...not breathtaking, but as close as you're likely to get from cartoon representations. Think of where stuff from the New Yorker, Ralph Steadman, and Monet might meet. Benoît Charest' music is, again, very original, effective, appropriate, and dramatic-especially that operatic bit on the high seas-tremendous. But it's really a film about a dog. All of the other stuff is entirely secondary, and you'll give it only secondary attention if the you watch the film right, which is to say, like me. Sylvain Chomet knows dogs, loves dogs, and beautifully communicates the emotions of dogs. Don't just watch the dog out of the corner of your eye, the dog's the show, man! And dogs are way more important than all that other artsy schmartsy stuff anyway. Well, maybe not, yeah, even the visual deconstruction of a waiter. Although that's also very, very good, and important. Do they give out awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Cartoon? They should, at least for this one. So, what, they give out awards every year even if no one was any good, and when someone's great they don't give 'em an award if there's no category? Aiyiyi! We've seen so many cartoons, over the years, that a certain cartoon orthodoxy has taken shape. Cartoons are no longer inherently either astonishing or amusing, they've lost their automatic element of surprise. Chomet's cartoons reclaim the heritage of the genre, apply magic growth formula, and give you back the things that you thought you'd lost.
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