The Triplets of Belleville
Enchanting. That’s the word that kept coming to mind. Being an illustrator, I’ve been mostly disappointed with the animations that I’ve seen in the past few years, and “The Triplets of Belleville” is not one of those. A true return to what has always made animated movies a popular art form in the past. It deserves all the praise it has gotten.
The Triplets of Belleville is full of wonderfully hand drawn characters. All of them are overly stylized and each has a distinct look. There is so much personality in this piece that it is hard not to warm to it immediately. Even the color palette is warm and soothing, like something out of a Richard Scarry book.
A young boy is being raised by his grandmother after the loss of his parents. In an attempt to console him she tries different things, even buying him a dog. Eventually she learns of his obsession with bicycles. She purchases him a tricycle which he takes to instantly. this is where the Triplets of Belleville really begins. Once grown and now entered in the Tour de France, the young man is kidnapped. This leads his grandmother and his faithful pooch on an exciting adventure to America. There she runs into the Triplets of Belleville, three old women, who in there prime were a major musical act. Now they play shows at restaurants using found objects and household appliances. The music used for these sequences is infectious in its rhythmic quality. One of the most amusing aspects of this cartoon is its interpretation of Americans, as painfully obese beach balls that slowly mill around the streets of Belleville. I’m not offended by their representation of Americans. As my friend Geoff likes to say “It’s funny because it’s true.” The constant little touches are what make it endearing, from a dog that barks at passenger trains in slow motion, to one the triplets fishing for frogs with a WWII hand grenade, this movie has enough quirk to satisfy even the toughest crowd.
Overall this cartoon is a masterfully woven visual feast. I fell in love with this movie from the first scene and had a constant smile on my face all the way to the end.-Tony Foster
