So this might not be the best segue ever, but I'll give it a try.
Following up on Monday's "We Can't Live Without Cosmos" post, here's one of 2010's five Oscar-nominated features, A Cat in Paris, which is currently streaming on NETFLIX, AMAZON PRIME, and HULU (FREE, WITH ADS).
By day a child's beloved companion... by night, a rooftop-roaming thief! Presenting Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli's captivating new film, from France's most acclaimed animation studio, Folimage, A Cat in Paris is a completely refreshing and unique throwback to the traditional form. Every cell of the film has been hand-painted, and its highly stylized, colour-saturated design looks absolutely gorgeous on the big screen. A must-see for animation fans of all ages.
I really, really love hand-drawn animation like this. Always have. There's just something so alive about it. The fact that it's not quite as perfect as its CG siblings is actually a feature, not a bug, as far as I'm concerned. Makes it feel more organic, somehow.
And it's the animation that really steals the show here. Serge Besset's score is engaging, I recall. And the story feels fairly workmanlike (if not much more than that). But the visuals? Those are where it really soars.
Interestingly, this was a bit of an "offbeat" year for animated features. Rango took home the gold, with Chico & Rita, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, and this film rounding out the rest of the field. Puss and Panda2 are basically sequels, but both A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita felt quite unusual, and were charmingly hand-drawn, both. And Rango? Well, Rango was just crazy. (No Pixar you say? That's Cars 2's fault, I say. And well-deserved.)
