Rating: 
Summary: Rent the movie before you buy it.
Review: Ok, I watched this movie again and again to try to understand it. I guess after watching this movie three times it's ranked as an "ok" movie. The movie was very racist and the animation was just grotesque and the plot was very, very, hard to follow. The movie just seemed too unrealistic. But, I guess it was just ok nothing special. The only part I really did find entertaining was the song. I guess this is a movie you would only want to rent, not buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Madame Souza Rules!
Review: The first time I watched The Triplets of Belleville, I thought it was too long, the story a bit boring, especially towards the end, and there was too much repitition. I loved the music, the Madame Souza character, and the odd look of the movie. I expected the title tune to stay in my mind, which it did. But scenes from the movie kept playing over in my mind as well. I couldn't let this odd film go. So I watched it again. This time, it did not seem at all too long, and I was completely engaged by the film. I still loved the music and the grandmother, but this time I paid more attention to the details, and savored the bizarre scenery and characters. I suspect that if I watched it a third time, I would find even more in it to enjoy. The music and mood are an homage to jazz guitarist, Django Reinhart. We even see him in the opening cartoon sequence, along with Fred Astaire and Josephine Baker. One of Reinhart's best-known songs is called "Belleville." The Belleville of the Triplets looks like Manhattan, but the people speak French. They are also enormously fat, as is the Statue of Liberty. So there is some national stereotyping going on here. On the other hand, the Triplets eat nothing but frogs, which of course, is the stereotypical food that Americans and Brits think that the French eat. This is all very confusing, and perhaps I'll figure it out eventually. I absolutely love Madame Souza. She is completely devoted to her sad and lonely grandson, Champion. Nothing stops her, despite her orthopedic shoes, coke-bottle glasses, and her small stature. She helps Champion in his training for the Tour de France by following him (and keeping up with him) on an old tricycle. She crosses the Atlantic on a paddle boat. She defies French gangsters and trips them up with her thick-soled shoes. She is my new hero. My recommendation is to see Triplets of Belleville, but if you don't love it right away, don't make any snap judgments. Let it simmer in your mind a day or two.
Rating: 
Summary: Great film. Bad cropping.
Review: The tyranny of the wide-screen TV strikes again! An important joke in the middle of the film is lost to top-and-bottom cropping for the wide screen: the information simply does not appear, lost at the bottom of the image. Wide-screen tranfers are a wonderful benefit of the DVD revolution, but not when they spoil the integrity of the piece. I'm really surprised at this one. Let the buyer beware, and wait for a showing in an art house or even on TV. Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln...it's a great flick - though as a friend of mine remarks, it can never quite live up to the brilliance of its opening sequence.
Rating:
Summary: Great film, an instantaneous animated classic.
Review: This was a subperb animated film, especially while in the midst of otherwise superior CGI features. Definetly a throw-back to the hand-drawn animation of the 1930's, but still something to marvel at. I also found that, though nearly absent of spoken conversation, it was even more enveloping than "Finding Nemo" and "Shrek" combined, proving that intelligent dialogue doesn't have to be spoken. At last, we have an animated movie for adults that children can appreciate, not the other way around.
Rating:
Summary: of limited appeal
Review: My husband and I enjoy foreign film and animation, and we'd heard this was a strange but very enjoyable film; instead we found it to be VERY strange and a LITTLE enjoyable. The animation is great, but the story about a woman who seeks the help of the odd triplets of Belleville to help rescue her kidnapped grandson, was not very interesting. The pacing is very slow and the tenor is slightly surreal. Extras are minimal: a music video and the trailer. If you enjoy French film and/or animation, you will probably enjoy some aspects of this film, and you may possibly enjoy it very much. We just thought it was a bit boring, though our toddler liked it very much.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful animated film
Review: Every time I watch this film, I cannot stop smiling. It's funny, sad, charming, clever, and beautiful to watch, as well as listen to. In addition to its references to Jacques Tati films and '30s cartoons, which other reviewers have noted, the film overall seems to follow the aesthetic of various National Film Board of Canada animated shorts I've seen -- it pays a lot of attention to gesture, nuance, timing, drawing out a gag, even silence. For all its wonderful inventiveness and busyness, this is a very contemplative cartoon -- and I'm very, very grateful for it. Things that stood out for me on a first viewing? Bruno the dog's physique (gigantic animal on little spindly legs that look like they're about to snap like toothpicks) and psychology (totally need-driven, with black-and-white Pavlovian dreams about trains). The very touching opening sequence about Madame Souza and her grandson Champion (notice that there's a real affinity between the whole Souza-Champion-Bruno story and the "Wallace and Gromit" films: it's like Gromit the dog has been "split" into the stalwart and inexpressive Madame Souza and the helpful Bruno the dog, who save Champion from trouble). The hilariously floppity maitre d'. The zillion-and-one visual gags, as well as the very subtle (and funny) use of sound effects -- which comes out more clearly on repeated viewings. I was especially touched by the sequence in which Madame Souza is first taken into the elderly Triplets' household. First of all, simply the fact that the Triplets, in spite of their age and poverty, have lost none of their spark, is very moving. But because we see the Triplets mainly through the eyes of the diminutive Madame Souza, there's another layer of emotion as well. Just before Madame Souza falls asleep on the sofa, she watches one of the Triplets in the bathroom, wearing only her slip, combing her long, grey hair -- and we, in the audience, watch with her. When I first saw this sequence, which showed this tiny little person watching an elderly person in fascination, I realized that here, just for a few moments, Madame Souza herself was getting to be a little child again. And, watching along with her, so was I. Animation this good doesn't come along very often. See it. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Whatever else you think of them, the French are great artist
Review: You're about to enter the surreal world of Sylvain Chomet. I have a hard time describing even to myself the weird and fantastic version of reality that exists there; physically grotesque blobs, boxes and skeletons expressing the human forms, wild facial caricatures expressing their personalites and some deranged alien architect replacing familiar buildings and landmarks with Disneyland parodies. The Triplets of Belleville must be seen even to be misunderstood. There is no point in trying to explain the plot because to do so would destroy a great part of this film's appeal. There is a certain delight in being magnificently confused from the get-go. One simply works through the strange logic of Chomet's landscape and peoples like working through an artichoke leaf by leaf; tough at first, but each layer that you peel back yields more and richer rewards, until finally at the end you get the great "A-Ha!" at the heart of the matter. Let's just say that the story involves a Tour de France cyclist, his grandmother, his dog and an evil plot by the French mafia in Belleville (which I work out to represent New York in our world). The title role of the Triplets is vital in saving the day, but again, the how of it is something for each viewer to discover on his/her own. As for the animation, this film deserved more attention than it got. The art direction was truly inventive. At times the "camera" angles and the perspective almost acted as characters in the film, lending a sometimes humorous, sometimes profound commentary to the events. Some computer animation was employed here and there, but for the most part this was great old-fashioned classic style. Oh, and just in case you're put off by foreign dialog or having to read (gasp!), you should know that very little of the story depended on dialog. I neglected at the beginning of the Dvd to select the "English" option, but even so, the story flowed well with few words. Apparently Chomet is a big fan of the "Show, don't tell" philosophy. I recommend TTOB to anybody looking for something really different and original in their animation. Heck, it's different and original in any medium!
-Andrea, aka Merribelle
Rating: 
Summary: Really odd imagery, and a great feature overall
Review: I have to hand it to Sylvain Chomet and Co. for creating an animation work of art that has some *very* odd imagery in it (although not grotesquely odd, i.e. Tim Burton). I liked especially their utilization of CGI animation, but incorporating it in such a way as to make it appear hand-drawn-a very good example of how to use a technology without it being overpowering. The film is almost entirely devoid of dialogue, but it does have some very entertaining and enjoyable music. The plot is better viewed than described...and look for "cameos" by Django Reinhardt, Fred Astaire, Josephine Baker, Glenn Gould, Charles de Gaulle, and who knows who else...I found myself humming the "Triplets of Belleville" song itself the day after I watched the film-it's catchy. The characters seem very real and likeable (the good ones, that is), even though they say nothing or almost nothing. All in all, a well-done and enjoyable example of how animation when very well-crafted can produce a film that rises above "cartoon" on every level.
Rating:
Summary: En français, s'il vous plaît!
Review: I saw this movie in France last year and again at a small non-profit theater this year with some students from my French class. We all love it! The kids appreciate the quirky aspects of it; I am more enchanted with the cultural references and hommages to some of my favorite French greats, Jacques Tati and Charles Trenet. I am disappointed, though, that the DVD does not have the original French language track. Sure, there's like two seconds of true dialogue in the whole movie. However, when it comes to the 7ième art, I believe that the original should be stuck to and made available. Otherwise, allez, les filles, allez!
Rating:
Summary: This was crazy, but I loved it!
Review: This has got to be one of the wackiest films that I have ever seen in my life, but it was totally original and every bit of it was great. I found myself laughing hysterically many times throughout. It was very unique in the way that it could be so funny and bizarre, but have tremendous amounts of tenderness in some scenes. It has hardly any dialogue and isn't your regular family cartoon fare, so many people will most likely shun it if they are close minded. It wasn't meant to be a mainstream film, and thank God it is not. I just loved every minute of it. I will be adding this to my DVD collection very soon! HIGHLY recommended!
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