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Director: Michel Ocelot
Release date: June 11, 2018
Rating: ★★★
Review:
Michel Ocelot belongs to the great author-directors of animated feature films, bringing us such gems as ‘Kirikou et la Sorcière’ (1998), ‘Azur & Asmar’ (2006) and ‘Les Contes de la nuit’ (2011). But somehow, his latest movie, ‘Dilili à Paris’ from 2018 has escaped international attention.
The most obvious reason for this is that ‘Dilili à Paris’ is first and foremost an ode to Paris of 1900-1901*. It’s thus an utterly French film, simply crowded by famous people, many of which actively play a role in the story. I counted 26 painters, actors, dancers, authors, composers, and scientists, not counting a multitude of more in the background. Luckily, this doesn’t mean that film is a nationalistic one, for Ocelot includes a lot of foreigners in his pantheon of greats, e.g. Polish scientist Marie Curie, Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, Venezuelan composer Reynaldo Hahn, future British king Edward VII and Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont.
In fact, by centering the film on these great minds in science and art, the film is also an ode to the fantasy and free thought of people. At the same time, the film is a firm statement against narrowmindedness, xenophobia, and oppression. Which brings us to the third theme of the film, which is a strong feminist one. In fact, apart from Dilili’s friend, the Parisian boy Orel, all main players are women, including soprano Emma Calvé (voiced by Natalie Dessay), stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, the aforementioned Marie Curie, and the feminist Louise Michel. Together with these women and many of the other famed people, Dilili and Orel unravel a secret plot in which the mysterious ‘male-masters’ kidnap little girls. Their anti-feminist scheme turns out to be one of nightmarish proportions. It’s clear that to Ocelot one should not underestimate, let alone oppress any human being, whether based on age, sex, color, nationality or whatever. A message that cannot be reinstated enough.
Dilili herself is an original heroine, a tiny Kanak girl from New Caledonia, who speaks French fluently, but who’s only brought to Paris to reenact her lifestyle in the jungle at the Exposition Universelle, a world exhibition that run from April 14 to November 12, 1900. When touring through Paris Dilili is dressed like a prize doll, and she also provides the film running gag, because to every person she meets she repeats the utterly polite sentence of ‘je suis heureuse de vous rencontrer’ (I am delighted to meet you). Of course, she experiences racism during her Parisian journeys, but this is not the film’s main theme.
Paris meanwhile comes to life in the extremely intricate background art, which is clearly based on photo material of contemporary Paris. The computer animation unfortunately is less impressive, and at times downright stiff. Especially Orel is poorly animated. When he makes friends with Dilili his moves and facial expressions are so terribly rigid, it doesn’t transcend puppet theater. The ending, too, leaves much to be desired, as the film’s finale is partly told during the end titles.
In the end the film is a little bit too crowded by famous people and certainly too poorly animated to be a masterpiece, but the mystery plot is a fine one, and the film’s message an important one. Above all ‘Dilili à Paris’ is a fine children’s film that deserves to be seen at least once.
Watch the trailer for ‘Dilili à Paris’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Dilili à Paris’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
* In fact, we can date the time period of the film pretty well, as Pablo Picasso first set foot in Paris in September 1900, and Edward VII became king on January 22, 1901, thus the events must be placed between September 1900 and January 1901.
Director: Phil Roman
Airing date: February 1, 1974
Stars: Snoopy, Woodstock
Rating: ★★
Review:
‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is the first Peanuts special not to be directed by Bill Melendez. Instead, Phil Roman takes the director’s seat, after co-directing the previous episode, ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving‘ with Melendez.
There’s little wrong with Roman’s directing, except for an odd staging here and there, but ‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is one of the weakest of the Peanuts episodes. Its story is incredibly straightforward, and lacks the little drama of the other episodes. This is mostly because the story is concentrated on Woodstock and Snoopy, instead of the children.
The episode starts with Woodstock trying to build a nest, and it’s this nest that drives the plot. The best parts of the episode deal with the power of imagination: Woodstock almost drowning in the bird bath and Woodstock riding an imaginary elevator. Also great is Snoopy as Woodstock’s attorney, issuing letters full of nonsensical Latin.
But the running gag in which Woodstock gets repeatedly wet falls rather flat, and one senses that more could have been made out of it. Also, the episode’s closing feels rather forced. In fact, the best aspect of the episode is its groovy soul-jazz music, which is a delight throughout the episode.
Watch ‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’
Director: Nick Park
Release Date: December 26, 1993
Stars: Wallace and Gromit
Rating: ★★★★★ ♕
‘The Wrong Trousers’ was the second short featuring the cheese-loving duo Wallace & Gromit.
Their first outing, ‘A Grand Day Out’ had been a virtuoso piece of clay animation, but even so, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ was a giant leap forward, taking Aardman’s claymation out of the independent animation atmosphere into the mainstream of slick studio productions, without losing an inch of character.
Despite being only 29 minutes long and featuring only three characters, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ feels like classic cinema. The fifties horror typography of the opening titles immediately makes it clear that we’re in for a mystery plot, and indeed this is a crime thriller with a small penguin as a most unlikely, but very convincing villain.
The film opens on Gromit’s birthday, a day which turns out quite sour. First, Wallace seems to have forgotten all about it, then he gives him the most useless gift imaginable: automatic trousers to walk him out without his faithful master. Then it turns out that Wallace has to cut expenses and … a room for rent.
That very evening the penguin comes in as the new boarder, but instead of taking the vacant room, he heads immediately for Gromit’s room. The mysterious penguin first takes care of Gromit, chasing the poor dog out of the house, then he uses the trousers in a diamond heist scheme.
The whole film is very well shot, featuring expressionistic angles and clever zooming in and out between the front and back of the set. The suspense is greatly added by dramatic orchestral music by Julian Nott. And throughout the animation, by Nick Park himself and by Steve Box, is top notch.
Especially the two silent characters, the penguin and Gromit, are very well animated: the penguin creepy and enigmatic, hardly revealing its emotions, except in the heist scene, Gromit with a multitude of expressions, making great use of Nick Park’s trademark brow technique. In fact, Gromit is such a rounded character, he easily carries the whole film easily using the expressions of his eyes alone. Especially Gromit’s agony, having to watch how the penguin silently takes over his home, is tantalizing.
Nevertheless, the most impressive part of this short is the finale. This is a remarkable chase scene, ridiculously set indoors on miniature trains, but it consists of five frantic minutes with a sense of speed never seen before in a stop-motion film. This finale alone takes the possibilities of stop-motion forward to new heights, and together with ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas‘ from the same year, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ must be regarded as a milestone in animation. Thus, the next year the film rightfully won the Academy Award for animated short.
The film also started a sort of Wallace and Gromit tradition of combining silly inventions with mystery thriller plots, as this would be the promise of all three subsequent Wallace and Gromit films.
Watch ‘The Wrong Trousers’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Wrong Trousers’ is available on the DVD ‘Wallace & Gromit – The Complete Collection’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 