A Monster In Paris

-M- FANS BEWARE: NO FRENCH LANGUAGE TRACK
A Monster In Paris (Un Monstre à Paris) is a 2011 French animated film by former DreamWorks animator Bibo Bergeron (director of Road to El Dorado, and more embarrassingly, SharkTale). Yes, that's right, 2011. The film first released theatrically in France in October 2011, and then in the United Kingdom with the English dub in January 2012.
In April of 2013, OVER 16 MONTHS LATER, the United States is just now receiving an official release.

Which is utterly baffling, considering that even before the film's French release, A Monster In Paris went viral and gathered a cult following on the internet, with a large percentage of these fans American (myself included), due to the film's beautiful animation and music.
The music in this film is by Matthieu Chedid, better known by his stage name -M-. I became a fan of -M- and his music through A Monster In Paris. I now own three of -M-'s albums, having imported the CDs from France.

So you can imagine my...

An adorable animated movie with stunning music
When I first saw clips of this movie on YouTube, including the by-now-famous song "La Siene," I was so impressed that I immediately began scouring the Internet for a US release date for the movie. When I learned there were no plans for a US release, I was rather disappointed, but I wouldn't let that deter me from seeing this movie. In the end, I splurged and purchased two copies of the DVD (one for myself, one for our local library) from Amazon's Canadian store.

Now seeing that there's an upcoming US DVD release, I'm kicking myself for not being more patient, but I don't regret having purchased this. It's a beautiful movie, and while maybe not quite Pixar quality it's adorable and charming in its own right.

"A Monster In Paris" takes place in 1910 Paris, during the flooding of the Siene river, and focuses on a short, shy theater worker named Emile and his eccentric, bombastic friend Raoul, a delivery man who fancies himself an inventor. While dropping off a...

Love the music.
I am a French teacher and I can't wait to use this movie as a culmination of our study of Paris (I teach younger children). Vanessa Paradis has an angelic quality to her singing that fits this role perfectly. I appreciate the innocent storyline, there are no adult references or innuendo as there are in so many Disney movies.

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