A Monster in Paris

A wacky inventor, his camera crazy best friend and a madcap monkey make a BIG mistake when let loose in the Professor s laboratory! With lotions and potions spilling everywhere, the troublesome trio accidentally create Franc, a musical talent of monstrous proportions. With the help of the beautiful but feisty singer Lucille, the team are on a mission to protect their new friend from the ghastly wannabe Mayor, Commissioner Maynott, who has a plan to increase his popularity by capturing Franc and revealing him to be a scary monster to the people of Paris. Directed by Bibo Bergeron (Shark Tale) with a voice cast including Vanessa Paradis and Sean Lennon, A MONSTER IN PARIS is fantastic fun for all the family.  A fun, lively animated feature, A Monster In Paris isn’t the first movie of its ilk to question who is a monster and who is a man, but it’s an enjoyable one nonetheless. Set in Paris in 1910, the key characters are investor Raoul and projectionist Emile, along with the monster of the film’s title. At first, the hunt for said monster is a conventional one, and equally inevitably, he’s far from the beast that he originally appears. That doesn’t quell the desire of the chief of police to catch him, though, and a fairly conventional story slots into place from there. Yet it’s a well told one. There are welcome quirks to A Monster In Paris that give it some character of its own, and the Paris locations are wonderfully animated, too. Inevitably, there are comparisons, and fair ones, to be drawn with The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, and A Monster In Paris is no equal to, for example, Disney’s telling of that story. But still, it’s a funny, breezy and entertaining film, tailored well to a young audience. --Jon Foster