I went to see this at the 2016 New French Cinema Festival at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. I thought it would be interesting. It was much better than I had imagined. It's set in a contemporary animated version of New York City. Well, recent-past contemporary. There was a billboard advertising "Wicked" very much in evidence.
It's about an 11 year old boy named Leo who is ill with an unspecified disease. He ends up for a long stay at a Manhattan hospital. He discovers that, since he got sick, his spirit can leave is body and fly around. He can see and hear what's happening in distant places. In one very brief scene, we see Leo's spirit relaxing in the torch of the Statue of Liberty, looking toward the south end of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Nicely drawn.
Meanwhile, a criminal mastermind, with the requisite henchmen and a bitey small dog, has gotten his hands on malware that can destroy the internet-of-things. He starts with a citywide (or at least Manhattan-wide) demonstration of his potential power to shake down the mayor for a gigantic amount of money.
In the hospital, Leo meets a maverick cop with a broken leg. He admires cops, and lets the cop in on his secret talent. Audrey Tatou voices Mary, a journalist friend of the cop, who will play a big rôle in the action that unfolds.
So, the overall film is sort of like a comic featuring a supervillain. But it's not so 2-dimensional. Leo's parents are worried sick as to whether he is going to pull thru or not (which his spirit can eavesdrop on when they think he's not around). Their tenderness and support is nicely nuanced. And Leo also has a baby sister, perhaps 4 or 5, who really cares about her big brother.
Likewise, the cop and the journalist have an interesting love-hate friendship that morphs into something more.
It's also very funny. When at the beginning, Mary runs into the cop (before his broken leg)in a grocery store, she looks at his his market basket of selections and says "pizza and chips?! What are you trying to do, commit dietary suicide?"
A good film for adults, and for some kids. It has things for both. There is lots of animation out there, but not so much that really catches my attention. But a subtitles-only release at this point, which leaves out younger kids.
As I write this, the US box office after being open 1 week, is about $4300 (one screen). If it won't bother you too much to hear supposedly tough-skinned New Yorkers speaking French, then, by all means see it.
It's about an 11 year old boy named Leo who is ill with an unspecified disease. He ends up for a long stay at a Manhattan hospital. He discovers that, since he got sick, his spirit can leave is body and fly around. He can see and hear what's happening in distant places. In one very brief scene, we see Leo's spirit relaxing in the torch of the Statue of Liberty, looking toward the south end of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Nicely drawn.
Meanwhile, a criminal mastermind, with the requisite henchmen and a bitey small dog, has gotten his hands on malware that can destroy the internet-of-things. He starts with a citywide (or at least Manhattan-wide) demonstration of his potential power to shake down the mayor for a gigantic amount of money.
In the hospital, Leo meets a maverick cop with a broken leg. He admires cops, and lets the cop in on his secret talent. Audrey Tatou voices Mary, a journalist friend of the cop, who will play a big rôle in the action that unfolds.
So, the overall film is sort of like a comic featuring a supervillain. But it's not so 2-dimensional. Leo's parents are worried sick as to whether he is going to pull thru or not (which his spirit can eavesdrop on when they think he's not around). Their tenderness and support is nicely nuanced. And Leo also has a baby sister, perhaps 4 or 5, who really cares about her big brother.
Likewise, the cop and the journalist have an interesting love-hate friendship that morphs into something more.
It's also very funny. When at the beginning, Mary runs into the cop (before his broken leg)in a grocery store, she looks at his his market basket of selections and says "pizza and chips?! What are you trying to do, commit dietary suicide?"
A good film for adults, and for some kids. It has things for both. There is lots of animation out there, but not so much that really catches my attention. But a subtitles-only release at this point, which leaves out younger kids.
As I write this, the US box office after being open 1 week, is about $4300 (one screen). If it won't bother you too much to hear supposedly tough-skinned New Yorkers speaking French, then, by all means see it.