The City of Lost Children

Rating:
Summary: A visceral experience...
Review: In the first minutes of the movie, with the image of the Santa Clauses coming into the child's room to the point where the child becomes frightened of all of them, I knew the rest of this movie was going to be difficult,yet interesting to watch. I was right. It is not an easy film to watch without either losing your sense of perception or getting a sense of vertigo. Remarkable sets and visual designs, nightmarish and goulishly imaginative characters, and the fact that it's in French (believe me, seeing it subbed instead of dubbed makes it all the more surreal in a good way) add to this grim sci-fi dreamworld. The plot takes a while to find in a rather confusing series of events, but it seems clear that it is about a deranged man who can't dream and kidnaps children to feed of of theirs, kidnaps a child who seems oblivious to the troubles surrounding him, his carnival strongman brother who tries to rescue him, and an unusual and rather demented group of characters who try to stand in his way. An artistic and imaginative endeavor into a world that filmmakers like David Lynch and David Cronenberg only barely touch at. Another film that is comparable to this is "Pi." Simply put, directors' Jean-Pierre Jeunet's and Marc Caro's masterpiece. A sure sci-fi classic.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary visions; Dickens meets Dick
Review: A wonderfully strange film, with a beautiful story (a love story?), crisp cinematography, amazing production design, and a rich score by Angelo Badalementi (he composed music for all of David Lynch's films). Certainly not for the faint of heart or those who like simple-minded blockbusters.

Like Amelie, which co-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did on his own, but with more darkness and danger (which seems, in retrospect, to have been supplied by co-director Marc Caro, which strangely has the effect of making this film all the more enjoyable. I don't want to spoil the plot's many twists and turns, but I will say that the film is set in a post-apocalyptic world with ugly one-eyed robots, plucky orphans, evil twin sisters, clones, a giant brain in a vat, and a scientist who is aging impossibly quickly because he can't dream, so he must steal the dreams of others.
It's a little like Charles Dickens meets Phillip K. Dick.
Not to be missed under any circumstances.

Rating:
Summary: More Weird than Wonderful
Review: I generally enjoy weird, off-center movies. My relatively modest collection of about 30 DVDs includes Brazil, Dark City, 12 Monkeys and Donnie Darko. So when Amazon's algorithm recommended City of Lost Children, I hiked on over to the local video emporium and rented it. I was not entranced.

The sets are wild and wonderful. The characters are certainly unique. But somehow, the movie just didn't work for me. Slow pacing and an almost non-existent storyline made it hard for me to sustain any interest. The Dickens-meets-Gilliam atmosphere eventually palled. Finally, about halfway through, I gave up.

Rating:
Summary: Only Watch To Induce Sleep
Review: I rented this French movie from Netflix based on all the great reviews it had. I'm not convinced! I turned it off halfway through and I haven't done that to a movie in a long time. I always try to at least force myself to finish what I started. I was so bored by it that at 8:30pm when I turned it off I went straight to bed.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Avant-Garde and Surrealistic Film
Review: Known better for his highly successful 2001 film "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" (known simply as "Amélie" in the U.S.) and his 1997 film "Alien: Resurrection" (Part 4 of the "Alien" series), Jean-Pierre Jeunet also co-wrote and co-directed the very avant-garde 1995 film "La Cité des enfants perdus" ("The City of Lost Children"). The film paints a very dark and surrealistic picture centered around a man named Krank (Daniel Emilfork), who is unable to dream, but kidnaps young children to steal their dreams within a bizarre laboratory. Unfortunately for Krank, the children are so frightened by him that they only dream nightmares. Krank himself is the creation of a mad scientist (Dominique Pinon, who played Joseph in "Amélie"), who also created six clones of himself. He also placed the brain of his Uncle Irvin into a tank to keep him alive (the voice of Jean-Louis Trintignant). The children are kidnapped for Krank by an army of Cyclops henchmen under the control of Cyclops Leader Gabriel Marie (Serge Merlin, who played Raymond Dufayel in "Amélie"), the clones and Mademoiselle Bismuth (Mireille Mossé). When the child Denree (Joseph Lucien) is kidnapped, a very strong, former whale-harpooner named One (Ron Perlman), who regards Denree as his little brother, sets out to find him. Along the way, One meets and is assisted by the young Miette (Judith Vittet), an orphan who, along with other orphans, steals valuables for a set of Siamese twins (Geneviève Brunet and Odile Mallet). The orphans are highly reminiscent of those from Charles Dickens' serial novel "Oliver Twist" (1837-1839), but the Siamese twins are far more ruthless than Dickens' character of Fagin.

"The City of Lost Children" earned no Oscar nominations, but did receive several nominations for the French César Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Music Written for a Film. The film did win the César Award for Best Production Design. Jean-Pierre Jeunet and co-director Marc Caro also received a nomination for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.

Memorable scenes in the film include the children dreaming of multiple Santa Clauses, the Cyclops henchmen at work, the Cyclops cult gathering, Miette and One over the water, the discussions with Uncle Irvin, and Miette's dream. The dark and mysterious set designs and cinematography are superb and elegantly demonstrate the clarity and depth of color that Jean-Pierre Jeunet later improved upon with "Amélie".

Overall, I rate "The City of Lost Children" with 5 out of 5. If you enjoy surrealistic and avant-garde films or are a fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work, you will more than likely enjoy the film very much.

Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: I read other reviews to make sure that I don't repeat anything. As always, a movie cannot satisfy everyone. So I wasn't surprised to see 5 stars as well as 1 stars. I think, personally, that movie is novel and great. If you think Monster Inc was good, here is the parent movie which has the original idea. Pixar simply copied it. TCOLC is a french movie and inherits all its attributes. I pity some reviewers who claim that they like "independent and foreign" movies. Yes that show off is good but wouldn't make you appreciate a movie. It is not a hollywood movie, so don't expect your typical stuff.
-a

Rating:
Summary: excellent film - dark art with a sense of humor!
Review: This movie is not to be judged by it's cover!!! It's not the dark, twisted fright-fest that the cover may make you believe! It's twisted, yes, definitely dark, but it's NOT frighening in the least. The movie has a sense of humor that goes perfectly with its theme. Also, don't take it for some sci-fi action flick because it has the same director and two of the actors that all did Alien Resurrection. IT's COMPLETELY different.

I found this movie amazing! The effects were excellent, and the sets were bewildering in their attention to detail.

The actors were incredible! Dominique Pinon plays his (7) clones very well, and the guy playing Krank is perfect for the part - he has the mad scientist look, and he plays it like a master.

The characters in the Krank family brought back memories of playing the game Maniac Mansion. For those of you who've played it before, you may notice the similarities between the Kranks and the Edisons.

some of the characters were downright [messed] up though - like those siamese twins.... I didn't like her. But those Cyclops things... damn, those were weird. Cool idea though!

Everyone played their parts superbly, but I think the one who stole the show was the pretty little girl who played Miette. She has acting talent far beyond her age (which is now about 16 or 17, but at the time she couldn't have been older than 9 or 10). I forget her name though. Judith Vittot, I think.

I never would have pitted Ron Perlman for the part he plays - especially since the first movie I saw him (and Dominique Pinon as well) in was the ill-fated Alien Resurrection. Perlman's character in Alien 4 was the rude, obnoxious Johner. In COLC he plays a compassionate circus strongman with a child's mentality who wants to save his kidnapped "little brother" from Krank.

This film isn't for everyone. It's very artistic. Not a frantic action-packed flick or anything like that. It doesn't really fit into any particular genre, because it's just too different...P>This is a very, very good film, but not for all types! You have to be open minded, willing to drop stereotypes and your ideas of acting "charicatures".

Rating:
Summary: Come join the cult!
Review: This is definitely not your mainstream fare. But, it is in itself a marvelous achievement. It is beautiful to look at while never losing any of its otherworldly sense: sort of a Jules Verne Metropolis with a touch of Pinocchio's Pleasure Island. This world is populated by Circus Strongmen, midgets, evil Siamese twins, idiotic clones, an evil control freak with no soul, a soul without a body and finally a bunch of Dickensian orphans who'd easily pick your pocket to get by. Did I mention the army of Cyclops denizens? Each and every element of this French film adds up to a strange nightmare with an odd sense of optimism. If you are comfortable with films like Brazil or Dark City, this is really your stuff and a must see. For those who were scared of the child wrangler in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, stay far, far away from this city of lost children. The DVD has a gorgeous transfer and a nice audio transfer. You have the option of watching it dubbed in English if you'd like but I don't recommend it. A Director's Commentary is also included which also features Ron Perlman (TV's Beauty and the Beast) who plays the Circus Strongman.

Rating:
Summary: An adult-fairy tale
Review: What does a man-made being who can't dream do? Why, take dreams from children of course. Although this twisted version of a fairy tale may be an aquired taste, it's definately worth taking a look at. It runs along the same line as Big Fish, but much darker. It has everything, including clones, cyclops, siamese twins, and a talking brain in a fish tank, how could you not love a talking brain in a fish tank? With great graphics for '95 and a notable performance by Ron Perlman, this movie is a great surreal adventure.

Rating:
Summary: Wierd and trippy, but great
Review: This is definitely a French film. It's very surreal and the first time I watched it I had a little trouble following who was doing what and why. After a few more times though I've got it all straight and, believe it or not, it does all make sense.

I'm a big fan of Ron Perlman (as is anybody who's seen Hellboy most likely) and he's wonderful in this. The entire cast is compelling and a joy to watch, even if you're confused. I especially loved Daniel Emilfork as a very sad bad guy.

This is probably not the movie for those who don't like quirky humor and surreal visuals, but I loved it. The special effects never look phony but always fit the situation.