This was a really fun movie!

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2007)

I was floored by how much I liked this movie. It was charming (but of course... it is French.. no? oh, and it is made by Pixar so of course it is heartwarming, and charming, and just plain fun).
Okay, so in short: the animation was superlative. in fact, had it not been for the "100% animation!" seal at the tail end of the credits I would have thought a good number of their backgrounds were Photoshop'ed images. Most humans in cartoons these days are just really badly drawn. This film took great lengths to accentuate the facial qualities of each character in a way not seen since the old Disney classics. The story was solid, the jokes were funny, and there was very little smarm (ugh!) - just one scene, but you will have to see it for yourself to know which one - and a very satisfying ending.
I liked the subtle messages of the movie, and the fact that they were at once subtle but almost obvious to even the casual watcher. I may have laughed the loudest in the theater, so perhaps some of the jokes may go above the heads of the prime demographic (on the way out of the theater I was assaulted by hordes of urchins all gleefully clamoring "Ra-ta-tooie!" over and again at their beleaguered parents). All in all I say "see it" (as in "now" in the theater - it will make your weekend lot of fun).
Hope this helped.