''A Monster in Paris'' () is a 2011 French animated

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Bibo Bergeron Eric "Bibo" Bergeron (born July 14, 1965) is a French animator and film director. His work includes ''The Road to El Dorado'' (2000), ''Shark Tale'' (2004) and '' A Monster in Paris'' (2011). Bergeron has served as animator on films like '' Aster ...

, and based on a story he wrote. It was produced by

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...

, written by Bergeron and Stéphane Kazandjian, and distributed by EuropaCorp Distribution, and it features the voices of

Sean Lennon is a British-American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tige ...

Vanessa Paradis Vanessa Chantal Paradis (; born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model and actress. Paradis became a star at the age of 14 with the international success of her single " Joe le taxi" (1987). At age 18, she was awarded France's highest ho ...

Adam Goldberg Adam Goldberg (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor. Known for his supporting roles in film and television, Goldberg has appeared in films such as '' Dazed and Confused'', ''Saving Private Ryan'', '' A Beautiful Mind'' and ''Zodiac''. He ...

Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an American-British actor, director and screenwriter. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for ...

Madeline Zima Madeline Rose Zima (born September 16, 1985) is an American actress. She portrayed Grace Sheffield on the CBS sitcom ''The Nanny'' (1993–1999), Mia Lewis on the Showtime comedy drama series '' Californication'' (2007–2011), and Gretchen B ...

, Matthew Géczy,

Jay Harrington James H. Harrington III, professionally known as Jay Harrington, (born November 15, 1971) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as the title character in the ABC sitcom '' Better Off Ted'' in 2009–2010, and from 2017 to 2 ...

Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian and American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She started her career in sketch comedy, sketch and improvisational comedy in film and television before expanding her career taking dra ...

, and

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. Aside from his acting career, Balaban has directed three feature films, in addition to numerous television episodes and films, and was one of the pro ...

. Many plot elements are drawn from

Gaston Leroux Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (; 6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (, 1909), which has been made int ...

's novel ''

The Phantom of the Opera The Phantom of the Opera may refer to: Novel * The Phantom of the Opera (novel), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (novel), 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux Characters * Erik (The Phantom of the Opera), Erik (''The Phantom of the Opera''), the title char ...

''. It was released on 12 October 2011. It was also produced by Bibo Films,

France 3 Cinéma France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a regional service with 13 re ...

, Walking The Dog, uFilm, uFund,

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

, CinéCinéma, Le Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique and Umedia. Its music was composed by Matthieu Chedid, Sean Lennon and Patrice Renson.

Plot

In 1910, during the Great Flood of Paris, shy projectionist Emile Petit and his friend Raoul travel to the Botanical Gardens to make a delivery. In the absence of the Professor who works there, the gardens are overseen by a

proboscis monkey The proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey (''Nasalis larvatus'') is an arboreal Old World monkey with an unusually large nose (or proboscis), a reddish-brown skin color and a long tail. It is endemic to the southeast Asian island of Borneo an ...

named Charles. Raoul experiments with two potions: "Atomize-a-Tune", which endows its users with operatic voices, and "Super Fertilizer", which makes plants grow to enormous sizes. When the two chemicals mix, an explosion occurs, resulting in a monstrous creature escaping the laboratory and terrifying the city's residents. Lucille, a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

singer at the club L'Oiseau Rare, faces pressure from her aunt Carlotta to marry the wealthy Police Commissioner Victor Maynott, a mayoral candidate. Following multiple sightings of the creature, Maynott launches an investigation led by his deputy, Pâté. One evening, Lucille comes face to face with the creature; though initially frightened, she discovers it is actually an enlarged flea with a melodious singing voice. She names the creature "Francœur" and allows him to live in her dressing room. Maynott learns of Emile and Raoul's role in the laboratory explosion, but disregards it and awards them the Medal of Honor. Their reward includes seats at Lucille's next performance, where she shares the stage in a duet with a disguised Francœur. After the show, Lucille accidentally reveals Francœur's identity to Emile and Raoul. The next day, Maynott publicly declares his intention to hunt down and eliminate the monster. Fearing for Francœur's safety after a waiter named Albert comes close to revealing his whereabouts, Lucille concocts a plan to stage Francœur's death during an upcoming ceremony. Lucille's plan backfires, leading to a frantic pursuit of Francœur and his friends through the streets of Paris. The chase culminates in a battle at the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, where a gunshot fired by Maynott and Francœur's sudden disappearance lead everyone to assume that Francœur has been killed. Pâté arrests Maynott under orders from the Interior Minister, who is displeased with Maynott's mania. However, that night, Lucille discovers that Francœur is alive and has returned to his natural size. The Professor returns to the laboratory and restores Francœur to human size with a new mixture. After clearing up a misunderstanding from their youth, Lucille and Raoul become a couple. In the mid-credits scene, everyone drops sunflower seeds into the river and giant sunflowers appear as the Great Flood begins to decrease. Later, in the post-credits scene, Albert, who got arrested and sent to prison, sings with his inmate while Maynott futilely tries to break free while getting annoyed to their singing.

Cast

Production

Director Bibo Bergeron conceived the project for ''A Monster in Paris'' in 1993, when he created his own studio, Bibo Films, which produced television series and advertising films; but he only really launched the project in 2005, towards the end of his stay in the United States, where he worked for

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

from 1997 to 2005.''Un monstre à Paris'', article de Paul Schmitt sur pixelcreation en octobre 2011
Page consultée le 22 octobre 2011. Bergeron wanted to make a film halfway between big American productions and arthouse films, and wanted to make it in France using his company Bibo Films. The first element of the movie decided was the setting; Paris, in the beginning of the 20th century, for which Bergeron gathered abundant documentation. Very early on, he had in mind the principle of a film close to a musical, as well as the concept of the central character, a monster with a big heart. Bergeron wrote alone a first synopsis of the scenario in August 2005, then he reworked it with Stéphane Kazandjian and together reached the first usable version of the scenario in the summer of 2006. In October 2005, Bergeron contacted singer

Matthieu Chedid Matthieu Chedid (born 21 December 1971) is a French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. Chedid began his career as a session musician playing both acoustic and electric guitar. In the late 1990s, he rose to fame as a singer-songwriter ...

to compose the music for the film; Chedid came into contact with

shortly after, and the two artists worked together on the composition and recording of the soundtrack. Soon after, visual aspects of the film were worked on for a year and a half. Bergeron says he was mainly influenced by Franquin the graphics of the characters, and draws his inspiration from impressionist painters like

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...

for the color moods and decorations.« ''Un monstre à Paris'' : dessins », article de Clémentine Gaspard en octobre 2011
Page consultée le 22 octobre 2011. The appearance and gestures of the monster and the singer Lucille are respectively inspired by those of

and

, who lend them their voices in the French dubbing. The visual design of a touching monster turns out to be tricky. Its final appearance is the result of contributions from several members of the team: its grasshopper appearance was an idea from a designer on the team, while Bibo Bergeron had the idea of taking inspiration from the cabaret singer's costume.

Aristide Bruant Aristide Bruant (; 6 May 1851 – 11 February 1925) was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He ...

for the disguise Lucille made for him. The search for financing for the film is being done at the same time. The budget of ''A Monster in Paris'' , 28 million euros, is very large for a French production, and therefore proves difficult to complete. Bergeron even had to put the project on hold for nine months because he struggled to raise funds; he is fortunately advantaged by his past experience at DreamWorks. Production of the film was finally launched at the beginning of 2009, and lasted until the end August 2010. ''A Monster in Paris'' is the third most expensive French film produced in 2010. In order to meet the requirements of co-producer

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP. until 2022) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full-service independent studios that both produce and distribute ...

, the English voices are recorded before the animation itself, which makes the film easier to sell in Anglo-Saxon countries; Bibo Bergeron supervised the choice of voice actors and recording took place in Los Angeles. The French voices are recorded once the film is finished.

is the only actress to provide both the English and French voices. The animation was done by an animation studio created in Montreuil by Bibo Films specifically for the needs of the project. It employed a team of 140 people. The

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...

went through several versions and once the final version was established, it was then rigorously adhered to during editing, avoiding having to cut completed scenes. For the computer-generated image animation, animators used XSI software supplemented by plugins created for the needs of the film. The film is distributed by

Music

The soundtrack includes both songs and short clips from the film, in both French and English. The soundtrack of the English version was released in the UK a few days after the film's release on both CD and digital download. The album is credited to

& (

-M- Matthieu Chedid (born 21 December 1971) is a French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. Chedid began his career as a session musician playing both acoustic and electric guitar. In the late 1990s, he rose to fame as a singer-songwriter ...

) ;French version # "Les actualités (Interlude)" (0:27) # "La valse de Paris" (0:43) # "La Seine – Cabaret" (

-) (1:17) # "Emile et Raoul" (2:00) # "Sur les toits" (1:28) # "Maynott" (1:05) # "La rencontre" (1:45) # "Un monstre à Paris" (

) (2:18) # "Le baptême" (Interlude) (Lucille) (0:11) # "Francœur"/Lucille (2:13) # "Brume à Paname" (1:01) # "Cabaret" (1:02) # "La Seine" (Vanessa Paradis & -M-) (2:48) # "Perquisition" (0:59) # "Sacré cœur" (0:56) # "Papa Paname" (Vanessa Paradis) (2:23) # "Sur le fleuve"/"Tournesol" (1:15) # "Tour Eiffel infernale" (2:29) # "L'amour dans l'âme" (-M-) (1:30) # "Flashback" (1:39) # "U p'tit baiser" (Vanessa Paradis & -M-) (2:24) # "Funky baiser" (5:13) ;English version # "Interlude – the News" (0:27) # "La Valse de Paris" (0:43) # "La Seine and I Cabaret" (

-) (1:17) # "Emile et Raoul" (2:00) # "Sur les Toits" (1:28) # "Maynott" (1:05) # "La Rencontre" (1:45) # "A Monster in Paris" (

) (2:18) # "Interlude – Lucille 'The Baptism' (0:11) # "Francœur – Lucille" (2:13) # "Brume à Paname" (1:01) # "Cabaret" (1:02) # "La Seine and I" (Vanessa Paradis & Sean Lennon) (2:48) # "Perquisition" (0:59) # "Sacré Cœur" (0:56) # "Papa Paris" (Vanessa Paradis) (2:23) # "Sue le Fleuve – Tournesol" (1:15) # "Tour Eiffel Infernale" (2:29) # "Love is in My Soul" (Sean Lennon) (1:30) # "Flashback" (1:39) # "Just a Little Kiss" (Vanessa Paradis & Sean Lennon) (2:24) # "Funky Baiser" (5:13)

Reception

In France

The opinions of press critics are on average quite favorable, and range from mediocre to excellent. The AlloCiné site gives ''A Monster in Paris'' an average rating of 3.4 on a scale of 5, based on eighteen press titles, only one of which (the daily '' 20 minutes'') gives it a 5, while six give it a 5. give a score of 4 and ten a score of 3. Among the best reviews is that of the free daily '' 20 minutes'', which sees the film as a "little gem of poetry full of charm and songs" , whose critic praises the "fanciful universe steeped in humor and originality". In ''Le Figaroscope'' , Emmanuèle Frois provides a very favorable review, where she appreciates the originality of the story, the pure moment of poetry created by the music of

and the successful duo formed by

and Vanessa Paradis ; she only regrets the small number of these songs. In '' La Croix'', Corinne Renou-Nativel gives a very positive review, where she appreciates the visual universe of the film, the "chiseled" dialogues and the story "without downtime" ; she concludes by indicating that "the notes of humor, the freshness of the images, the captivating duo formed by -M- and Vanessa Paradis, the poetry which surrounds everything make this film a nice meeting for adults and children. In the television supplement of the weekly ''

Le Nouvel Observateur (), previously known as (2014–2024), (1964–2014), (1954–1964), (1953–1954), and (1950–1953), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, ' is one of the three most prominent French news magazines ...

'' (''TéléCinéObs''), Xavier Leherpeur gives the film two stars out of four: he considers it "brimming with visual discoveries, humor and poetry" , and appreciates its universe and the music, but judges the final sequence "less grandiose than it could (and should) have been". In the daily ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', Thomas Sotinel judges the story "strange and not very coherent" and believes that the film suffers from its lack of resources compared to big productions from American studios like DreamWorks ; he concedes to the film a capacity to awaken the spectator's "appetite for the marvelous" , but regrets that this appetite is often frustrated. Among the most skeptical critics, Florence Colombani, in ''Le Point'' , recognizes in

"a real aesthetic sense" (which she particularly appreciates in the opening sequence of the film) and praises the "humanist message

f the film F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounc ...

towards the youngest" ; but she finds the story "a little thin" and judges that ultimately "the film lacks the dramatic structure to completely hold the viewer". The critic from ''Ouest France'' , who gives the film two stars out of four, sees in the scenario "yet another variation on a somewhat worn-out theme" and regrets that the film concedes too much to Hollywood conventions, without sufficiently developing the ''French touch'' of the story, so that the result is judged "too wise and too estrainedin its formatting" ; the article however appreciates the quality of the original soundtrack.

International

In Britain, where the film was released late January 2012, ''A Monster in Paris'' received a fairly good reception in the press. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it received an aggregate score of 87% based on 23 reviews (20 "fresh" and 3 "rotten"). Favorable reviews credit the film with its graphics and successful songs as well as the poetry and originality of its script. Peter Bradshaw's review in the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'',''A Monster in Paris'' Review, article de Peter Bradshaw dans le ''Guardian'' le 26 janvier 2012
Page consultée le 1^er février 2012. gave the film three stars out of five, and stated: "the film has something of Hugo's The ''Hunchback of Notre Dame'', and also of ''King Kong'', but it has a style eccentric of its own: a suitable children's film." Unfavorable criticism generally focuses on the weaknesses of the scenario, considered chaotic or too conventional.

Accolades

; Annie Awards 2014 * Annie Award – Outstanding Achievement in Character Design in an Animated Feature Production – Christophe Lourdelet – Nominated ;

César Awards 2012 Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar River, in Colombia * Cesar R ...

* César Award – Best Animated Film (Meilleur film d'animation) – Bibo Bergeron (director), Luc Besson (producer) – Nominated * César Award – Best Original Music (Meilleure musique originale) – Matthieu Chedid, Patrice Renson – Nominated

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monster in Paris, A 2011 films 2011 3D films 2011 comedy films 2011 computer-animated films 2010s French animated films 2011 fantasy films 2010s monster movies 2010s English-language films 2010s French-language films French 3D films French computer-animated films French children's films French animated fantasy films French fantasy comedy films French musical comedy films French romantic comedy films French independent films Animated romance films Animated science fantasy films 3D animated films English-language French films Films based on The Phantom of the Opera Animated films about shapeshifting Animated films set in Paris Films set in 1910 Films directed by Bibo Bergeron Films produced by Luc Besson Animated films set in the 1910s English-language science fiction horror films English-language musical films 2011 musical films