Um Monstro em Paris

I was browsing through IMDb when I stumbled upon the reviews of this movie. As a matter of fact, 6 months ago, I saw the Dutch dubbed version with 3 kids (one 6y, 2 10y).

I have to say, everybody enjoyed it. The 6y old even asked me to buy it on DVD. I wonder if the person who gave this a "1" even bothered to look at the movie at all...

Because I like Paris, I enjoyed the little details the French animators put in it. It really captures the Parisian atmosphere. The animation is in the same league as Megamind, Despicable Me etc. It's not as good as the Pixar/Dreamworks movies, but it was still very well done.

Some jokes worked, others didn't, but all in all I found it well worth the money.

OK. First and foremost it's a kids film. On the whole all kids films are reviewed by adults on IMDb and therefore shouldn't be reviewed like Saving Private Ryan or the Green Mile. My 3 and 5 year old enjoyed the film, the characters and the music and came out smiling afterwards. Not as good as other children's films such as The Incredibles or Finding Nemo (larger budget I imagine), but certainly in the ballpark of Despicable Me or Megamind. Either way, lovely animation of Paris, interesting storyline, and for me it gave the adults enough to keep watching, or is that because I had a crush on Vanessa Paradis when I was 14?

A very enjoyable kids' movie which pays homage to other 'monster'-classics like Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera and King Kong. A feast for the eyes and a classic story with a twist in which losers become heroes, heroes become villains and a monster turns out quite different to what we expect. Well not really, because all monsters are misunderstood gentle souls and greedy ambitious people always turn out to be the real monsters. The story is accompanied by beautiful songs. I regret to have seen the English version because I just know the original French chansons must be even better. My 4 year old daughter, 11 year old son and I loved it and my wife quite enjoyed as well. Certainly not a waste of money like some of the other reviewers said.

I saw this movie yesterday. I was not expecting anything ; my boyfriend and I love cartoons, he chose it, I hat no idea what it was.

The beginning and exposition are a little slow, granted. But it is worth it, it allows you to enter peacefully in the story.

And as it goes on, the story gets more original as we see the monsters are not necessarily who we think.

I did not expect it to be a musical, too, and really, that's not it. But the story revolves around a singer, so she sings (and I stop here so as not to spoil). In french, she is voiced by Vanessa Paradis (yes, Jonnhy Depp's Vanessa) who is a pretty good singer and actress. The songs are pretty good, the other singer (pretty famous in France, too) add some poetry to the thing, but the music is not too much. There is no singing for no reason like in the Disney cartoons.

The rendering of Paris, during the great flood of 1910 (true story) in very well done and the atmosphere is beautiful.

There are a few situation jokes ; you don't explode with laughter but it's funny and you can see that the writers prepared them carefully (the thief joke, for instance). Plus, in the french version, there a plenty of little allusions and puns that are really fun.

All in all, a very enjoyable experience for kids or adults.

I will admit at first when I first saw the trailer I wasn't entirely drawn in. But since being a fan of animation and learning from films like Lilo and Stitch, Galaxy Quest, Tangled and Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame(all examples of movies that had trailers that either didn't appeal or were misleading, but the actual film I enjoyed or was blown away by) that you shouldn't judge a movie by their trailer. I really liked A Monster in Paris, the beginning may take a little too much time to get going and like the concept there are one or two bits that seem a teensy- bit contrived. However, the way the film is written, ensures that it is all very light-hearted, with a sense of fun, a lot of charm and a big heart at its centre. The characters are still engaging, who doesn't love Franceur, and the voice acting is very dynamic. The humour is nothing absolutely extraordinary, but I was still amused by it. What I did like too were the references to early horror movies, looking at the Monster's disguise you immediately think of the Invisible Man, there are some exciting chase scenes and there is nothing overly-sentimental. There were three things though that stood out. One was the atmosphere, A Monster in Paris has such a lovely and nostalgic feel to it, seeing as that is exactly the feeling I got when I went to Paris I felt the film evoked this very well. It is a very rich film musically, with songs that completely bewitch you with their simplicity and beauty and a score that is enchanting in melody and like the atmosphere gives a sense of nostalgia. And the animation is stunning, the characters are all well-modelled and there is a clean and bright colour palette but the stars were the city landmarks, which I loved spotting, and the period setting. Overall, a very good film, not completely perfect, but better than the rating it's got at the moment and one of the more pleasant animated films of the year. 8/10 Bethany Cox