A Cat in Paris

• French: Une vie de chat, lit. ‘A Cat’s Life’
• Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
• October 15, 2010 (Saint-Quentin Ciné-Jeune Film Festival) / December 15, 2010 (Belgium, France and Netherlands) / December 22, 2010 (Switzerland)

Voice Cast

• Jeanne-Marcia Gay Harden
• Claudine-Anjelica Huston
• Nico-Steve Blum
• Victor Costa-JB Blanc
• Zoé-Lauren Weintraub
• Lucas-Matthew Modine
• Mister Baby-Mike Pollock
• Mister Hulot-Philippe Hartmann
• Mister Frog-Gregory Cupoli
• Mister Potato, Frank-Marc Thompson
• Policeman #1, Zookeeper-Mike Pollock
• Old lady-Barbara Goodson
• Dom, Dog owner-Eric Bauza

The cat of a young Parisian girl leads her to solve a mystery over the course of a single night.

A Cat in Paris largely centers on a cat that leads a double life. At night he accompanies a burglar named Nico that calls him Mr. Cat but during the day resides with a young girl named Zoé who calls him Dino. Zoé’s mother Jeanne works as a police superintendent and while mommy works Zoé is looked after by a nanny named Claudine.

The best way to describe this is a lot doesn’t happen. It’s quite quiet and almost simple. It showcases the animation and character designs at the cost of a complicated story leaving the viewer without much to talk about afterwards. Nothing here will create a sense of nostalgia or a hook that makes you want to watch it again. I don’t know if movies need that, but they should aim for that. It makes this a once and done experience.

This is nothing bombastic or flashy. It is simple and almost quietly done in traditional 2-D animation accompanied by a jazz tinged soundtrack. This looks like something you could put on a lunchbox and sell to kids. Almost crude yet not bad to look at.

Despite not much meat to this there are three plots going on that eventually come together. Victor Costa and his gang who use names in their crime reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs, Nico’s story, and the girl and her mother getting closure on dad’s death.

You can look at it as a family friendly spoof/spin on the thriller by getting serious but not unwatchable for children. Victor Costa, the villain of the story, is dangerous to the characters, but it a mild comedic way. He’s after some art that hung in his bedroom (?) and also is responsible for the death of the girl’s father.

Even though this is a dubbed version of a French film, there are plenty of points you could almost think this is an American set presentation, but then they quickly dive into the Parisian landscape. Nothing is named as this location or that location, but you pretty much know you’re at Notre Dame without being told that.

I expected Zoé to get significantly more play than her mother Jeanne did, but Jeanne got a pretty good storyline of her own. I did find it weird given the murder mystery storyline the mother taking up with the thief. Not that romance was out of the question in any movie like this. They just did give it any real time to develop.

It keeps things largely grounded in reality. The cat is intelligent, but not of a human level of intelligence. The only exception to that are the thieves who can get a little bit too stupid at times. How they were even noteworthy towards the investigation is beyond me. How did the murder come about? We never do learn exactly why dad died.

While I do not think it deserved the Academy Award nomination, A Cat in Paris is entertaining. Its major issue is you will never feel a pull to watch again.