La cité des enfants perdus

The first time I saw this movie I shook my head and wondered why I wasted three dollars renting this movie. It seemed to me that the storyline was worthless. However, I gave this movie a second chance, and this time instead of constantly reading the subtitles I paid more attention to the acting and events taking place on-screen.

I was shocked. The amount of creativity and symbolism blew me away. A lot of questions I had accumulated throughout my first viewing were answered by watching the movie carefully.

I recommend to everyone who thought this a poor movie to watch it again. If you don't speak French (like myself) try not to get so involved in the subtitles that you miss critical detail. It's there, and it's important, trust me!

"City of Lost Children" is a beautifully-realized if derivative dark fantasy in which a mad scientist named Krank, aided by a half-dozen clones, a midget woman, and a brain in a tank, abducts children to his offshore lab so he can steal their dreams. Seems he's unable to have any of his own. A sideshow strongman, played by a radiantly fit Ron Perlman, goes in search of his little brother, who has been taken by Krank's goons. Perlman, in another of his growing gallery of bizarre roles, is a perfect example of why I like character actors better than big-name stars. And how many languages does he speak, anyway? French here, Spanish (and English, of course) in "Cronos"; polyglot in "The Name of the Rose"; what next?

The strongman, named One, enlists the aid of Miette, a homeless, streetwise girl who, along with her fellow urchins, is part of a ring of thieves employed by a pair of sinister female Siamese twins named the Octopus. (Watch carefully how these evil twins smoke a cigarette. There are more weird characters per square inch in this flick than anywhere else outside a Heironymus Bosch painting.) Miette is played by Judith Villet, whose gonna-be-a-great-beauty looks, her air of intelligence and experience beyond her years, make her a sort of Gallic Natalie Portman.

Anyway, that's the plot: rescue little brother from the mad doctor. The images are the thing: with its rendering of a bleak, low-tech retro-future, "City" looks more like a Terry Gilliam movie than "Twelve Monkeys" does! And it slyly slips in ideas and images from other sources, to good effect: Krank himself is as much of the mad-doctor stereotype as is the character in "The Nightmare Before Christmas"; his outlandish electro-headgear is similar to that used in Disney's "Merlin Jones"; a nightmare on the loose swoops low along the ground through streets and alleys as a trail of green mist, improving on a similar image from "Bram Stoker's Dracula"; there's a confrontation in dreamland a la the "Elm Street" series; and while the idea of a brain in a tank isn't a new one, this is the first benign one I've ever seen. Familiar or not--and I'm thinking also of "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T"--"City of Lost Children" is still engaging, enjoyably weird, fantastic and funny, helped greatly by the fact that One and Miette are so endearing. The pace is a tad slower than it might have been. But this is, after all, a French movie.

It's so bizarre that it's beautiful; it's so illogical that it's funny; it's so dark that it's so sweet. That's The City of the Lost Children. The plot it's that the evil -and weird- Krank (Daniel Emilfork) kidnap children to stole their dreams due to the lack of his ability of dream. Or at least he did it, until it came One (Ron Perlman), in the search of his adoptive little brother, aided by Miette (Judith Vittet), a street smart orphan child.

In technical aspects it's a master piece. The decoration give a baroque sensation of always being in small places, yet it's a full city populated of bizarre characters as the story itself.

The acting it's great. I'm quiet impressed for the flawless french that Ron Perlman show us, he's just simply astounding. I cannot say less of Judith Vittet, that being a child in that time she was a tremendous actress. The two have a good chemistry as a girl mature as an adult and a grow up man with the innocence of a kid.

I can't say that this is a movie that everyone would like, because it's not. It have a little of nonsense that might be not of the like of all the public. And all the dark atmosphere might be a little suffocating. So, take the risk and watch it, and then decide: you love it, or you hate it.

The City of Lost Children gets two platinum stars and also moves up to one of my top ten favorite films of all time. This is a confusing story, from beginning to end it expands your mind, reaches into your nightmares, and creates a story that is part Dark City and part of a novel called "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman.

Yes, this film was everything and more. Not only visually beautiful, but the creative and symbolic meaning of the actions and words of the characters are "jaw dropping". Also, there are so many sub-stories in this film that reminded me of the style that Run Lola Run was done. This is the style that due to a connection of unrelated events something extraordinary happens. Let me give you an example from this film: There is a scene where the girl and One (Ron Pearlman-also a very biblical name) are trying to escape from the two women who want their jewels. There are events that lead from a dog finding its female companion to a boat almost hitting/splitting the women in half. Wild coincidences...imagine this times ten, and you have this film.

Keep in mind this is a French film with English subtitles, so you are not only getting the true voice of the film, but seeing the darkness of the cinematography without any American input. This really shows the purpose behind making this film, it really takes you to a new place so dark and dreamlike that you the viewer actually feel like you are in the picture itself. A movie about dreams and nightmares that takes place in a world of dreams and nightmares.

Overall, a heavily religious and symbolic film, The City of Lost Children should be put at the top of your foreign film list. Put it in your DVD player, open your mind, and be ready for a wild and intense ride!!

Grade: ***** out of *****

The evil Krank (Daniel Emilfork), his dwarf wife and his clone minions children (Dominique Pinon) have a machine to steal the dreams of young children because Krank can't have dreams himself. One (Ron Perlman) is a strong man performer whose little brother Denree is kidnapped by Krank's underlings, the Cyclops. Miette (Judith Vittet) is a young street kid who ends up helping him.

This has a lot of weird concepts on display. I can only describe this a outlandish mix of Dickensian poverty and a french grimy Jules Verne sci-fi with a good helping of weird surrealism. The visual is a good unique grim fairy tale but the story drags a little too much. It meanders and is confused. It is in love with its visual surrealism more than trying to make sense with the story. It should be a lot more simpler than what it is. It spends a lot of time luxuriating in the weirdness of the world and the villain.