A Monster in Paris

The huge success of Martin Scorsese's Hugo in the Oscar nomination list augurs pretty well for this amiable family animation in 3D from French director Bibo Bergeron, which has some similar themes and settings. Originally entitled Un Monstre à Paris, it has now been redubbed by English-speaking performers including Bob Balaban, Danny Huston and Sean Lennon. Vanessa Paradis plays the lead, bilingually, in the French and English versions. In Paris, during the great flood of 1910, a movie-mad cinema projectionist and his wisecracking buddy find themselves mixed up in an adventure involving a monster at large in the city, which, kitted out in a hat and quasi-zoot-suit, turns out to be a gifted guitarist and nightclub musician, providing backing for singer Lucille (Paradis). A wickedly cynical mayor, keen to offer the Parisian public some diversion from its flood-related woes, wants to exploit the monster for his own ends. The film has something of Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, and indeed King Kong, but has an eccentric style of its own: a decent children's film.