Children, sadly, are too young and unformed to enjoy the pleasures of film noir.
Or are they?
“A Cat in Paris” was a surprise nominee for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. Many viewers hadn’t even heard of the French flick before it competed alongside films such as “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Puss in Boots” and eventual winner “Rango.” But this clever crime caper is far more original than any of those Hollywood blockbusters.
| On screen |
| ‘A Cat in Paris’ |
| 3 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Anjelica Huston, Marcia Gay Harden, Steve Blum |
| Directors: Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol |
| Rated: PG for mild action and violence, and some thematic material |
| Running time: 70 minutes |
It introduces youngsters to a more sophisticated style of film than they’re used to seeing in animated forms — but in a completely accessible way. The film has even been dubbed into English, with the use of some famous voices, all the better to attract a wide audience of Americans who certainly don’t find work influenced by Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino in movies at the multiplex rated G or PG.
The feline of the title is, quite literally, a cat burglar. Dino serves as the assistant to Nico (Steve Blum), who seems like a nice guy except for his habit of cleaning out the safes of Paris’ wealthiest.
That’s by night. By day, Dino is domestic, the purring pet of the young Zoe. He seems to be the only friend Zoe has. She hasn’t spoken since her father died, not even to her nanny (Anjelica Huston) or mother. That might be because Zoe resents her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) for fighting her pain by losing herself in her work as a police superintendent.
You might see how Dino’s double lives will become one. The police begin to realize it’s their own boss’s cat at every jewelry-lifting crime scene. They don’t put two and two together, though, until Zoe has followed Dino one night and gotten herself in trouble. Not with the thief, though, but a much more dangerous crew: one led by the man who murdered her father.
This is some dark stuff for a children’s movie. But the story is told with charming, hand-drawn animation, making it much less frightening than it would be in live action. And the homage it pays to its predecessors — including one funny scene, which echoes “Reservoir Dogs,” in which the crime boss gives his minions code names they don’t much like — will have parents happy to sit through it alongside their children.
