''April and the Extraordinary World'' () is a 2015

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

film co-directed by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci, co-written by Ekinci and Benjamin Legrand, and starring

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress who has appeared in both European and Hollywood productions. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Marion Cotillard, various accolades, including an Ac ...

. Set in a

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...

world based on the concepts and visuals of comic artist Jacques Tardi, the plot concerns a young scientist continuing her great grandfather's research and attempting to find her family, who have disappeared.

Plot

The film takes place in a world where

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

was killed in a building explosion and the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

was averted by his son's shrewd

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

. Over the next 70 years, the world's scientists disappear one by one, causing technological progress to grind to a halt and

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

to spiral out of control. In 1941, April Franklin, great-granddaughter of scientist Gustave Franklin, continues her family's work on a serum for ever-lasting life. So far, their only success has been April's pet cat Darwin, who has gained the ability to talk. Meanwhile, her family is pursued by the bumbling Inspector Gaspar Pizoni, who hopes to turn their research over to the government for use in wartime. April discovers that her parents perfected the serum years ago and hid the results inside her snowglobe. April finds a message of warning from her father and finds herself pursued by a noxious black cloud. She and Darwin are rescued by Julius, a petty criminal hired by Pizoni to follow her. April uses the message to reunite with her grandfather Prosper "Pops" Franklin, who has spent the last 10 years hiding from Pizoni. Julius reluctantly turns Pops over to Pizoni. The authorities take Pops to a government weapons research center in Fort-la-Latte, where he finds other scientists studying a mysterious machine found at the bottom of the sea. The machine turns out to be an

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

. Julius returns to April just as a group of

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo (island), Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili ...

s bred by Gustave as part of his research back in 1870. The lizards, Rodrigue and Chimène, have used the scientists to create a jungle ecosystem underneath Paris, where the scientists work alongside the lizards' offspring on an ambitious project. The lizards remotely hijack the plane, but Pizoni brings the plane down in the jungle. April, Darwin, and Julius reunite with April's mother, Annette, who reveals the lizards' ultimate project: launching a rocket loaded with vegetation made invulnerable from the serum to other planets,

terraforming Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to mak ...

them to escape the humans' wars, pollution, and violence. Pops and Pizoni are captured and imprisoned. There, they meet April's father Paul, who has been imprisoned for rebelling against the project. April's group causes a blackout that frees the prisoners. Pizoni tries to escape while Pops and Paul try to find the others. At the rocket's launch, Julius secretly switches April's serum with plain water before handing it to Rodrigue who drinks the "serum" and reveals he has rigged the rocket to explode, wiping out humanity so he can take over the world. Rodrigue kills Chimène when she tries to stop him and Julius fatally shoots Rodrigue. April douses the vegetation on the rocket with her serum, fulfilling Chimène's plan, and Darwin redirects the rocket to space. The Franklins, Julius, and the scientists join Pizoni in escaping to the surface and witness the rocket exploding in space. Pizoni becomes the head of Emperor Napoleon V's security service in reward for foiling the lizards' plot. With the scientists free, technology begins advancing rapidly. April continues to work on the serum but never finds a way to make it work for humans. Man finally reaches the Moon in 2001, where astronauts discover Darwin, still alive. An elderly Julius breaks the happy news to his wife, April.

Voice cast

Marketing

The first poster of ''April and the Extraordinary World'' was released on 21 June 2015.

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

released the first trailer on 18 September 2015.

GKIDS GKIDS is an American film and television distributor owned by Toho International. Based in New York City, GKIDS releases mostly international animated films and television series to North American audiences, as well as American films by indepe ...

released the first U.S. trailer on 22 February 2016.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

on 15 June 2015.

released the film in France on 11 November 2015. O'Brother Distribution released it in Belgium on the same day.

released the film in United States in 2016, starting with a limited release in New York on 25 March 2016 and then to theaters nationwide on 8 April 2016.

Home media

The film was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD on Aug 2, 2016.

Reception

Critical response

The site's critical consensus reads, "Bursting with a colorful imagination befitting its promise-packed title, ''April and the Extraordinary World'' offers spectacular delights for animation fans willing to venture off the beaten path."

Accolades

References

External links

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Cineuropa
{{DEFAULTSORT:April And The Extraordinary World 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s Canadian animated films 2010s children's animated films 2010s French animated films 2010s French-language films 2010s science fiction adventure films 2010s science fiction comedy films 2015 animated films 2015 comedy films 2015 films 2015 science fiction films Animated adventure films Animated alternate history films Animated films set in France Animated films set in the 1870s Animated films set in the 1930s Animated films set in the 1940s Animated films set in the 2000s Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film winners Belgian alternate history films Belgian animated feature films Belgian animated science fiction films Canadian adventure comedy films Canadian alternative history films Canadian animated comedy films Canadian animated feature films Canadian animated science fiction films Canadian children's comedy films Canadian science fiction adventure films Canadian science fiction comedy films Cultural depictions of Napoleon III Films set in 1870 Films set in 1931 Films set in 1941 Films set in 2001 French adventure comedy films French alternate history films French animated comedy films French animated feature films French animated science fiction films French children's films French science fiction adventure films French science fiction comedy films French-language Canadian films Steampunk films StudioCanal animated films StudioCanal films 2010s Belgian films