A Monster In Paris (Blu-Ray + 3-D Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy)
A Monster In Paris is a French computer-animated film that takes place in Paris, France. The animation quality is better than some recent CGI movies I've seen (notably Ultramarines), but nowhere near as good as films from Pixar or Dreamworks. The story also starts off a bit slow, and there is this odd scene with a thief that seems out of place and doesn't contribute anything to the story, like they were trying to stretch out the film's running time. It clocks in at just about ninety minutes but I think it would have been better if about 10 minutes were cut, mostly from the first act before the monster is introduced.
Anyway, the story is about these two guys, a shy movie projectionist named Emile and his best friend, an outgoing delivery man named Raoul. Raoul brings Emile along on a delivery to an indoor botanical garden run by a genius scientist professor dude, but he is out so they meet his monkey assistant, Charles. I'm not sure why they decided to go with a monkey butler rather than a human as having him as a monkey didn't really add much to the film. Maybe it was just to show that the professor was such a genius that he could turn a monkey into an assistant who could understand our language? He was funny, but he wasn't used nearly enough. At any rate, he's a monkey and he uses flash cards and pre-written notes to communicate. So despite instructions from the professor to just leave the delivery outside and not enter, they enter. Then despite additional instructions to just leave the delivery inside the door and leave, the two go in and look around and Raoul starts messing around with the professor's potions.
And I'm like WTF?! Who they hell are you coming into this guy's place and fooling around with his stuff? To me, this immediately makes this character unlikable, and Emile just goes along with it so I've lost any respect for him as well. As if that wasn't bad enough, they then cause an accident which makes a huge sunflower grow so big that it breaks through the top of the glass ceiling and a bunch of other potions get mixed together which end up creating a giant flea with a lovely singing voice. Emile only catches a glimpse of the monster before they bug out.
Now there's a monster on the loose in Paris, and people freak the hell out when they see it even though it hasn't hurt anyone. It's then discovered by Lucille, a singer at a club who is trying to find a new musician for her show. She also freaks out a bit at first, but when she hears this giant flea monster sing, she takes it in and dresses it up in a disguise. Meanwhile, the wealthy police commissioner named Maynott feels this monster business is perfect to help him get re-elected by instilling fear in the public and showing himself as a hero for ridding the city of the monster.
Okay, now Raoul secretly likes Lucille so he and Emile go see her show and backstage they discover the creature and soon all three must protect the creature from Maynott, and in my opinion this is where the movie gets better. Now we get tension and drama and adventure. It's just too bad it took so long to get there, almost 50 minutes in. Probably the best thing about the movie are the songs, which are pleasant and catching. There are only a couple, it's not a musical or anything. Anyway, it's a decent movie, but I'd say more for children.
This Blu-Ray + 3-D Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy release includes exactly what it says, and pretty much nothing else. The only special feature is a trailer, which is hardly a special feature. I found that kind of surprising since pretty much every Blu-ray disc I've watched have had special features.
