A MONSTER IN PARIS

France/Belgium, 2011, 90 minutes, Colour.
Voices of, English version: Adam Goldberg, Jay Harrington, Danny Huston, Bob Balaban, Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis, Catherine O’ Hara.
Directed by Bibo Bergeron.

French animation films that have been released for a wider audience are very different from the familiar material from Hollywood studios (which have been developing a variety of skills in their productions during the last ten years). The American product is generally aimed at a children’s audience or family audiences (and entertaining parients and grandparents who may be taking the children). This is not the case with the French films. Examples are Les Triplettes de Belleville and A Cat in Paris. It is the same with A Monster in Paris. However, a number of bloggers have said that it appealed to the children they took to see it.

It is really an adult story, a period story which highlights familiar landmarks of Paris while showing us the ordinary streets, homes, cabarets, laboratories. The style of drawing is idiosyncratic, evoking the art of the beginning of the 20th century. It was filmed in 3D.

The plot would be more at home in a comic strip, broad sweep of characters and situations, plus a great deal of fantasy. For some adults, it may be too fey and twee.

The monster is not really a monster. Rather, a scientist has been working in his laboratory and two friends dling deliveries explore and discover a flea that has been transformed into something larger than life. They disguise it as a tall man, a singer, who teams with a girlfriend-singer in a cabaret, Lucille, and the couple are a great success. In the meantime, a policeman, ambitious in his career, goes on a quest to arrest a mysterious killer who is identified as a monster. Needless to say, there is a happy ending and comeuppance for the policeman.

One of the best elements is the professor’s assistant, a monkey who does not speak but holds up cards with his humorous dialogue.
The musical side of the film (with some attractive songs) has more than a passing resemblance to The Phantom of the Opera and echoes of Beauty and the Beast. Vanessa Paradis sings as Lucille and the singing voice of the flea is Sean Lennon.

A mixture of the familiar and the offbeat.


1. The audience for this kind of animated film? French style? Adults? Children?

2. The visuals, the design of the drawings, characters, Paris? The situations? The period? Costumes and decor? The musical score? The songs – and Vanessa Paradis? Sean Lennon? The dances?

3. The situation in Paris, the early 20th century? The buildings, the restaurants, the cars? The familiar landmarks, the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre?

4. Raoul, Emile, their friends, their work, the chatter? The deliveries?

5. The eccentric scientist? His work? The investigations? The monkey – and the humour with his intelligence, his not being able to speak, his writing notes? Their wit?

6. The potions, the mixtures? The explosion? The specimens, the flea? The transformation of the flea?

7. The flea as a humanoid? In Paris? The people and their responses? The monster? Inspector Maynott and his reputation, the election, his plan to kill the creature?

8. Lucille, at the nightclub, her songs? Her fears? The monster and its singing with her? Her realisation of the flea, bringing him into the club, giving him a name, Francoeur? Honest Heart? The disguise? The clothes? The mask? The duet on-stage? The choreography?

9. Maynott, his character, searching for the creature?

10. Raoul, his friendship with Lucille? Emile and their investigations, at the cabaret? The decision to fake the death? The plan going awry?

11. Maynott, the chase of the monster through Paris? The rooftops? Montmartre? The Eiffel Tower? His seemingly killing the flea?

12. Maynott, his being arrested, condemned?

13. Francoeur, returning to his original size?

14. The romantic ending, Raoul and Lucille and love?

15. The comic touches? The thriller touches? The mask and the Phantom of the Opera? The Murders in the Rue Morgue and the atmosphere of Paris? The mad scientist and the potion? The Beauty and the Beast? The innocent flea – and being mistaken for a monster?

16. The final credits? The elaboration of concept art? Cartooning? Character design? Animation?