Directors: Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol.
Voiced by: Gaspard Gagnol, Marcus D'Angelo, Edouard Baer, Jared Padalecki, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Vincent D'Onofrio, Audrey Tautou, Melissa Disney.
I have always enjoyed foreign animated features, especially the French ones like Belleville Rendez-vous and A Town Called Panic, finding them to be a refreshing change from the glorious wonderment of Disney flicks and the Japanese Anime.
This is from the same creators behind the well received and Oscar nominated A Cat In Paris, Felicioli and Gagnol. But this time setting the scene in today's New York where a criminal mastermind is at large planning to take over the city.
Unfortunately, as this was a early afternoon screening for our younger, British generation, so I had to watch the American dubbed version, replacing the original French stars voices. Big names of French cinema too like Amélie's Audrey Tautou and Tous les Matins du Monde's Jean-Pierre Marielle.
Like A Cat In Paris, the film follows an odd yet satisfying pair of heroes as they embarked on an adventure to piece together the mystery in hope to thwart the bad guy's plan. Our main hero is Leo, a hospitalised child who has an unique ability of being able to leave his body while sleeping and venture off in a ghostly manner able to visit his surroundings with being detected. He chooses to help a wheelchair bound policeman, who's broken his leg whilst being in pursuit of our antagonist, The Face.
It's simplistic style doesn't deter the enjoyment or the animation in any way. It's very much a stunning piece of work, with a gorgeous use of vibrant colours versus shadows that gives the otherwise flat imagery great depth.
The film has a lot of heart, something that is ideal for an audience of children. It's an engaging adventure that feels like those early adventure stories we would read as kids, the ones with basic yet powerful illustrations. This film is much like those, only fully animated in all it's glory. A delightful piece of animation.
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 8
Direction: 8
Story: 7
Script: 7
Creativity: 7
Soundtrack: 7
Job Description: 7
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
66% 7/10
