Review of The Triplets of Belleville (2003) by Spyros T — 12 Nov 2012

Extraordinary. Simply mesmerizing. Some of the best 2D animation I've seen in a very long time. It is so much closer to some of the animation I grew up with in the old analogue world. I can't believe it lost to Finding Nemo for best animation.

Well, of course I can believe it, and understand why something like Nemo is more accepted, but it is disappointing. It's difficult for me to assign some arbitrary numerical rating to it, this film defies my attempts to think how it might have been improved, but it doesn't seem to qualify as a "perfect 10".

It has it's own dream logic that can't really be improved upon. I can't critique the plot. It is what it is, and I can't imagine it any differently. It's the sort of thing I think you're either on board with, or find it sort of awful.

It's like if Max Fleischer, Jacques Tati, Fritz Lang, and David Lynch made a cartoon together, this would be the result. Yes, some of the imagery bordered on the grotesque, but I found the art and character design fascinating because of it, and I really loved the minimal dialogue, I was impressed was how much of the narrative, the satire, the characterization could be achieved with so little dialogue.

A wonderful, quirky, fun film! In my books, line drawn animation beats digital animation any day of the week!