Avril et le monde truqué

Plot synopsis:
In Paris in 1870, an event splits the timeline from the one we're familiar with. Napoleon III, preparing for war with Prussia, has tasked a scientist with developing a drug -- dubbed the ultimate serum -- that will make his soldiers indestructible, able to recover almost instantly from wounds and disease. The emperor visits Professor Gustave Franklin's lab to gauge his progress. Franklin has a couple of creatures in a murky test chamber; he calls them Rodrigue (French voice: Benoît Brière; English voice: J.K. Simmons) and Chimène (French voice: Anne Coesens; English voice: Susan Sarandon). (Rodrigue and Chimène are named for characters from legends based on the life of the Spanish hero El Cid -- comparable to Romeo and Juliet.) We can't see the test subjects, but we hear them say a few words. When Franklin reports that he hasn't yet identified the right formula for the ultimate serum, the emperor loses his temper and orders his henchman to shoot Rodrigue and Chimène, without waiting to hear what Franklin urgently wants to tell him. The movie's timeline diverges from our own when the test subjects escape -- we never get a good look at them, but they seem to be four-legged and low to the ground -- and the ensuing explosion kills Franklin and Napoleon III.The immediate result is positive: Napoleon IV signs a peace treaty that averts the Franco-Prussian War, which didn't go well for France and is generally considered to have set the stage for World War I. Before long, though, scientists and inventors start to disappear. Technologies they would have developed -- notably radio, electricity, and petroleum-powered internal combustion and diesel engines -- never appear. Europe uses up its coal to power its steam engines, then consumes its forests. When the story resumes in 1931, France is planning to invade North America for its trees. The French government requires all remaining scientists to work for the state; their priority is to develop new weapons for the coming North American war.The descendants of Professor Franklin are renegades. His son Prosper (French voice: Jean Rochefort; English voice: Tony Robinow), now an old man who wants his family to call him Pops, has continued the search for the ultimate serum in secret. Prosper's son Paul (French voice: Olivier Gourmet; English voice: Mark Camacho) and Paul's wife Annette (French and English voices: Macha Grenon) are in it with him; even their young daughter April tries to help. When we first see Prosper, he's in a conservatory visiting a tree. When Paul comes to bring him back to work, Prosper says he's drawn to the tree and can't help coming every day.The Franklins are distilling the latest version of the ultimate serum when the gendarmes -- police -- break in on them, lead by Inspector Gaspar Pizoni (French voice: Bouli Lanners; English voice: Paul Giamatti). Annette hides the serum by injecting it into April's snowglobe and the family flees, Prosper in a steam-powered car and April, her parents, and her talking cat Darwin (French voice: Philippe Katerine; English voice: Tony Hale) in a police dirigible. Pops gets away; the rest of the family makes it onto a cable car bound for Germany, but the cops catch up with them before the cable car leaves Paris. The cable car is attacked by a strange dark cloud that strikes the police and April's parents with lightning that seems carefully aimed. April and Darwin escape in a kind of lifeboat just before the cable car explodes. In the aftermath Inspector Pizoni, who survived the explosion with injuries, is demoted to agent for bungling the capture of the Franklins. Paul and Annette are presumed dead, but Pizoni vows to win back his rank by finding Prosper.Ten years later, April (French voice: Marion Cotillard; English voice: Angela Galuppo) and Darwin are living on their own in the head of a huge metal statue of one of the Napoleons. Scientists are still disappearing. April makes her way around Paris stealing things she needs, and is followed by a young man, Julius (French voice: Marc-André Grondin; English voice: Tod Fennell), who is Pizoni's informant. (Pizoni hopes that April will lead them to Prosper.) She doesn't know Julius is following her, but the entrance to the statue is well hidden so he loses track of her. April is still working to perfect the ultimate serum, motivated by the knowledge that her beloved Darwin is dying -- his lungs have been damaged by all the soot in the air, product of decades of burning coal and wood in huge quantities. April reads to him ("Puss in Boots," another story about a talking cat) while they wait to see whether her latest formula will cure him. It doesn't, so she goes out again to steal ingredients for the next attempt.A fairground seems promising. One of the booths features a magic show that includes some chemical effects. (And, oddly, a pigeon outfitted to transmit audio and video.) April sneaks backstage during the show and finds what she needs, but the magician's assistant catches her and raises the alarm. April runs, with the magician's assistant in hot pursuit. (In a remote listening post, a shadowy figure orders that a spy rat be sent in.) Luckily for April, Julius has picked up her trail again and has recently been told by Pizoni to shield her from the consequences of stealing -- she can't lead them to Prosper if she's in jail. Grasping her predicament, Julius runs up to April saying "Honey, where have you been? I've looked all over for you!" and kisses her. This distracts her pursuer so Julius (who has previously exhibited some skill at sleight of hand tricks) can extract the stolen chemicals from her bag. When the magician's assistant looks into her bag, there's nothing incriminating to be found and they get away. April is baffled by Julius's help, seems uninterested in making friends, and ditches him as soon as he returns her chemicals. He follows her, as does a rat wearing the same kind of spy equipment we saw on the pigeon. Julius loses her again near the statue; the rat doesn't.In her lair, watched by the spy rat, April whips up another batch of what she hopes is really the ultimate serum and feeds it to Darwin. Julius, who's hanging around outside feeling frustrated, happens to notice that the statue's eyes -- April's windows -- are lit up. It's gotten dark and she's forgotten to pull down the shades.When it seems Darwin is getting worse instead of better, April loses it. She throws the vial of failed serum, which breaks and drips on the spy rat. She sweeps the distilling apparatus off the table, breaking and throwing things left and right -- including her snow globe, which leaks a little. Darwin slurps up the liquid and goes limp again -- he's almost too weak to move now. Moments later, as April weeps over his impending death, Darwin leaps up and announces that he's cured -- all signs of weakness and coughing are gone. Even his voice sounds stronger. Darwin tells April he drank some of the water from the snow globe, and April realizes her parents must have hidden their final version of the serum there. The mysterious masters of the spy rat see and hear all of this.Suddenly Julius appears at the window -- he's climbed the outside of the statue to find April. She's annoyed but helps him in rather than letting him fall to his death. They're distracted by a voice emanating from the spy rat. It's Paul, April's father, warning that she's in danger -- she should leave right away, go to the oak tree, and wait for Pops. Darwin pounces on the rat, apparently killing it and interrupting the transmission.At the window, Julius notices a strange dark cloud that looks very much like the one that attacked the Franklin's cable car 10 years before. It approaches quickly and starts to cut through the metal of the statue's head. April, Darwin and Julius flee down the stairs to the street and get away.In a control room, people in red coveralls monitor transmissions from all over the world. Their bosses, who seem to be robots or cyborgs -- we don't see them clearly -- discuss what just happened. A female voice says one of the scientists took control of the spy rat; a male voice, calling her "my love," replies that she's far too lenient with the humans and this scientist should be punished. The bosses go outside to a cell in the jungle. Its walls are made of red laser beams and inside is April's father Paul. The female voice asks Paul what he said to his daughter -- they want April's help with a project they're working on. Paul just smiles until they confront him with Annette, who looks angry.April, Darwin, and Julius eventually make their way to Julius's hideout, where they spend the night. Julius gives up his bed to April. Julius is a little sweet on her and offers to help, but April is dismayed at being thrown together with him and keeps saying she doesn't need friends, though Darwin reminds her how Julius has already helped them.April puzzles over her father's message, wondering where she can find an oak. Julius knows where to go, noting there's only one tree left in Paris. The next day they find the tree in a large conservatory and sit there for hours before an old man in a gas mask (to protect him from the sooty air) sits nearby and speaks to them. It's Pops. He gives them directions to a safe place but tells them he'll leave first and they should give him an hour's head start. April is impatient and leaves with Julius and Darwin soon after Pops departs.Meanwhile, April's parents are arguing. Annette wants to bring April into their unnamed project; she believes in the project and feels that April will be safer with them. Paul has lost confidence in the project and wants to keep April as far away from it as possible.In a huge hangar or warehouse, April and Julius find a large single-family house with an odd metal tunnel for an entrance. April seems to recognize the house. Pops arrives right behind them and scolds them for coming so quickly; he's afraid they'll be followed. April explains that she's had a message from her father, and hopes that her mother is alive too.The mysterious boss with the feminine voice questions Annette. She's disappointed that Paul wouldn't tell Annette anything, but assures Annette that they won't hurt him.In Pops' study, they're trying to figure out what's going on. Pops decides to go back to the statue to retrieve the spy rat. He won't let April come along, but tells her there are clothes for her upstairs. She discovers a wardrobe full of pink dresses, identical but in different sizes. She puts on one that fits and goes down to ask Julius what he thinks (it's a very different look for her -- she's been wearing boys' clothes up to this point), but can't find him: he's gone off to report to Pizoni. Julius agrees to give up Pops to Pizoni but lies that he doesn't know where April is. At the same time April fools with an untested electrical device Pops was working on; as soon as it powers up, the red-suits in the control center detect it and send a spy rat to pin down its location. Julius comes back in time to be zapped by the device before April manages to rip out its power cable.Pops is checking out the plaza around the statue when Pizoni catches him. Pizoni's very pleased with himself and gives Pops a lump of coal as a memento of their previous meeting, when Pops escaped the police raid by climbing a pile of coal and scrambling up a coal chute. Darwin, who has followed Pops, sees all this and trails them to a meeting with Pizoni's superior officer. The meeting doesn't go as Pizoni hoped. Though his boss is happy to have Prosper, he reminds Pizoni that he was told to stay away from the scientists and has him arrested. In the commotion, Darwin gets Prosper's attention and Prosper tells him "In case anything goes wrong, on my world globe, Uruguay! with a U for urgent!" Darwin also overhears that Prosper and Pizoni are being sent to Fort-la-Latte.Darwin high-tails it back to the house, where Julius is telling April he has to leave. Before he can get away, Darwin reports that Prosper has been captured and is bound for Fort-la-Latte. At Fort-la-Latte, a research station where many of the French government's captive scientists are working, Pizoni is locked up and Prosper is taken around to look at various research projects. A damaged airplane grabs his attention. It was found wrecked, its origin is unknown, and its technology is unfamiliar to the French scientists. Pops sets to work repairing it. Back at the house, April uses an atlas to locate Fort-la-Latte (a real medieval castle) on the coast of Brittany. The dark cloud attacks the hangar and starts cutting it up to get at the house -- the mysterious bosses have tracked April down.Darwin presses Uruguay on the globe and the house immediately encloses itself in armor, the desk in the study flips over to reveal a control console, and a recording of Pops' voice plays on the Victrola: "Dear visitor, if you're hearing this, it's because the situation is critical, so welcome to my metamansion. To steer the metamansion to the location of your choice, type your destination on the keyboard. For any other information, see the user's manual." (A large book pops out of a slot on the console.) A laser from the dark cloud is trying to cut through the metamansion's armor, so April wastes no time in entering "Fort La Latte" on the control console's keyboard. The house sprouts legs (à la Howl's Moving Castle) and runs off, dodging their pursuers and jumping into the River Seine -- the armor keeps out water as well as lasers, and the metamansion can swim as well as it can run. They head for the coast of Brittany to rescue Pops.The dark cloud that's been after them seems to give up, gaining altitude as it dissipates to reveal that it contains a plane -- or aerocopter -- that looks like the one Pops is trying to repair at Fort-la-Latte. Over the radio, the mysterious bosses discuss April's escape. The female boss calls the male boss, who's flying the aerocopter, Rodrigue.At Fort-la-Latte, Pops explains electricity to the government scientists as he repairs the damaged aerocopter. The area starts to flood because the metamansion has punctured the castle's foundation. April and company sneak in to find Pops, who's having so much fun with the aerocopter that he doesn't hear them calling at first. He gets it working and they all get aboard and escape from Fort-la-Latte as the guards shoot at them. The metamansion is lost.Once they're aloft, Pops explains that they don't know where they are and starts to work on the guidance mechanism while he questions Julius about why Pizoni knew where to find him. Julius admits that he turned Pops in because the alternative was jail. Pops doesn't seem too troubled by this, but April is furious.Pops' tinkering triggers a video and we finally get a good visual of the two mysterious bosses: they're lizards wearing armored, human-shaped suits, with their tails hanging out at waist level. In the video, the female boss says "Dear scientists, welcome aboard. We are your new masters, Rodrigue and Chimène. You are being guided to a safe haven where your talents will be appreciated and put to good use, in pleasant surroundings far away from the follies of your government. All science is most valuable to us. Like your cruel species, we have learned that knowledge is power. Your science will help us achieve supreme power through technological superiority. The nature of your work will be explained later."In the control center, the red-suits listen to April's reaction: "Lizards? Those lizards took my parents?" The bosses take control of the plane and fly it into a tunnel, where it seems to be losing power. Pops goes aft to see what's wrong with the propulsion and discovers a stowaway: Pizoni, who's heard where they're headed and doesn't want to go there, so he's destroying the engines with a crowbar.It's too late. Their momentum carries them out of the tunnel and into a jungle, where the plane crashes. Rodrigue is getting a massage and listening to music when Chimène breaks in to report the crash and suggest that he search the jungle for the wreckage; they expect April and company didn't survive.They're wrong, of course; April and Julius marvel at all the plants and the clean air and argue while Pops and Pizoni are captured almost immediately and confined in a laser-walled cell right next to Paul's. April, Darwin, and Julius find their way into the research station. They dress up in red coveralls and ask another red-suit where Annette and Paul Franklin are, but the guy realizes that anyone he doesn't know is likely to be a spy and calls for help, so they have to run. The lizard guard who shoots at them (one of Rodrigue and Chimène's many children) manages to short out the whole electrical system when he misses, putting everyone in the dark and letting Paul, Pops, and Pizoni out of their cells. Paul and Pops go looking for April, telling Pizoni he can get out through the chimney. (Apparently they're under ground. Pizoni spends the rest of the movie climbing.)Darwin distracts a lizard guard by climbing into its armor so Julius can grab its weapon. Held upside down, the guard tells them Paul is in a cell; they can follow the blue lights to find the holding area. They take off and the guard quickly reports to Rodrigue -- Papa -- that they're headed for Paul's cell and they have the guard's ray gun. Rodrigue (who is frequently advised by Chimène to quell his brutal tendencies) says "Chimène, I just had an idea. A nonviolent one! I think you'll like it."Paul and Pops wander the jungle looking for April while April, Julius, and Darwin, who have lost the trail of blue lights, wander aimlessly until they encounter Annette. April is overjoyed; Annette whisks them away and explains that she's working with the world's greatest minds in this "technological paradise" to complete "the project." April wants to know where her father is, why her mother isn't locked up ("You escaped, right? You were in a cell, like father? You know how to get him out?"), and whether this project has something to do with the ultimate serum. Annette is evasive until they meet Rodrigue and Chimène.April accuses her mother of betraying them; Annette denies it. April, assuming that they want the serum, gives Rodrigue the snowglobe. He smashes it, laughing, and says they want what's inside her head. Chimène and Annette explain that they've recreated the serum in the globe several times and it never worked -- Darwin was cured by April's serum. As proof, Chimène produces the spy rat that Darwin attacked just before they left April's lair in the statue: the rat, which consumed a few drops of April's serum after she broke the vial, is fine now, and can regenerate and survive any attack. Darwin gets very excited: "I could be a warrior -- a cat ninja!" When April asks how she could have created something like that in her makeshift lab, Rodrigue responds by shooting Darwin in the chest. The cat appears to die but quickly recovers and repeats, "Cat ninja!" Chimène tells April she's going to recreate her serum for the project. Just then the power comes back on and April, Julius, and Darwin realize they're on a launchpad. There's a rocket covered with vines and vegetation near the cliff wall and a crowd of red-suited scientists nearby.Chimène explains, "You see this rocket? It's covered with specimens of plants. It will explode in deep space, scattering billions of spores cultivated in this jungle. Once you've treated them with your serum, the spores will be able to survive the explosion and the interstellar vacuum. They'll spread to new planets where they'll flourish and multiply. Thanks to you, April, life will never end."Julius says "Hold on -- you're going to blow up a huge bomb to save life? That's why you need all this science?"Chimène and Rodrigue believe that humanity will eventually destroy the world. The purpose of their project is to spread life widely enough that it can't be stamped out. April is angry and says all this doesn't justify stealing her parents and killing all the people on the cable car. Chimène says that was an accident and threatens to let Rodrigue "deal with" Annette if April doesn't cooperate. April caves and gets to work, with Julius assisting, in a lab set up right on the launchpad. They test her serum on a dead potted plant, which revives, sprouts new leaves, and blooms before their eyes. Rodrigue asks for the serum and Julius hands him a vial.Rodrigue drinks the serum himself ("So this is what it feels like to be invincible! I like it!") and announces, over Chimène's protests, that he's lowered the altimeter setting on the bomb to 500 meters; it will destroy all life on the surface of the earth. (Presumably the lizards are safe in their cavern.) "These humans will get the fate they deserve!" When Chimène protests, Rodrigue attacks and overpowers her, despite Annette's attempt to help Chimène. Rodrigue demands that his children choose between living and ruling with him and dying with their mother. They start shooting.The wounded Chimène tells April the only hope is to get inside the rocket and reset the altimeter to trigger the bomb far out in space. Rodrigue is preparing to kill April when Julius shoots him with his captured ray gun. "Idiot! I'm invincible!" says Rodrigue, before keeling over. Julius explains that he switched the serum with a vial of water, which is what Rodrigue drank. They realize the rocket is about to take off and April, Julius, and Darwin rush to get aboard. Only Darwin is quick enough. But April is able to throw the vial of serum at the rocket, inoculating the vegetation before lift-off. Paul and Pops appear in an elevator and whisk Annette, April, and Julius away from the launchpad.Meanwhile Darwin, aboard the rocket, tries to reset the altimeter. It's not clear he succeeded until the rocket breaks through the ceiling of the cavern -- it turns out they were beneath Paris all along -- and disappears into the sky. Pizoni emerges from a chimney just in time to see it. He on his rooftop and the Franklins and Julius, who are in a car trying to get as far from the explosion as they can in case Darwin fails, see a bright, distant flash when the rocket explodes without destroying anything.A series of news reports plays out on a TV in a room that changes over time:1941: Napoleon V makes Pizoni head of his secret service.1951: "Limitless" oil has ended the energy wars; acclaimed biologist April Franklin has failed to make her ultimate serum compatible with the human organism; plant life is observed on the moon, Mars, and Venus.2001: A spaceship from the Democratic Union lands on the moon, which has verdant vegetation, a breathable atmosphere -- and a cat. Darwin says to the camera, "What took you so long? April, I'm coming!" An elderly Julius leaves the room to tell April that Darwin has been found.

Tags: alternate reality, alternate history, sci-fi

Review:
A great animated movie for all ages a classic in the making.
"Avril and the extraordinary world" was presented before the official release at the Anim'est international animation festival in Bucharest.
I have to say that it was a magnificent movie, reminding me of some classic Disney style hand crafted animation that I used to love when I was a child.
The story takes place in an alternative universe, where some modern inventions where never discovered or made available for the advancement of our societies.
This makes you question how would the world look like if we have never used electricity or petrol in our daily lives.
The comic release character, a talking cat with the name of Darwin was instantly liked by all people present at the screening, adults and children together.
A very unusual animated steampunk, sci-fi, alternate reality picture!.
Thank goodness I found "April and the Extraordinary World"...an animated movie that was delightful and really, really unusual.
It isn't so unusual because it's in a steampunk world...a few other films have explored this same sort of material.
Apparently Napoleon III was a bit of a nut and was intent on using his top scientist to create super-soldiers which the French could use against the Prussians.
His successor, Napoleon IV, was also a bit of a nut...and tried as well to use the top scientific minds to make super-weapons...but, oddly, soon all the scientists began disappearing...and so the world never experienced the gains of the 19th and 20th century.
Electricity never really came into widespread use and instead the world was a dirty, deforested strange steam-driven place...and the French were part of an empire dedicated to war with the United States...a war for resources as the Europeans had completely exhausted their natural reserves.Time passes and soon the story soon involves a family torn apart in the 1930s.
Anyway, government agents are looking for April...and assume they can use her to find her family and the other scientists.
It seems that most of the scientists, including April's parents, are working with aliens...yes, aliens!
I liked the story very much as well as the characters.
The background and much of the animation was lovely...but April and the rest don't exactly look like Disney or Studio Ghibli quality.
But most of all it is fun!" George Mann April and the Extraordinary World is an animated French adventure for the whole family (I recommend about 8 years and older) reminiscent of the fantastic 'toons of Hayao Miyazaki (think of Howl's Moving Castle).
Leading us through an alternate steampunk history of modern France, April (voice of Marion Cotillard) is a little girl whose scientist parents in 1941 were abducted by the "Empire" to advance the cause, in this case by creating an immortality drug.With her charming talking cat(a product of the scientists' experiments), April spends her youth confronting malevolent forces like a driven policeman (Javert anyone?), a roguish boy, and nature itself.
Not one moment of the 1 hr 45 min is wasted; each is crafted under the expert direction of Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci for maximum adventure and humanity (for example, love may be blooming and Grandpa Pops is feistier than ever).The graphics as well are outstanding in the steampunk visual style with the omnipresent steam and pipes, furtive surveillance rodents, bicycle-powered blimps, and suspended trolleys, among some of the creative expressions.
Although great advances such as the use of electricity and oil have not been discovered, the above-mentioned steam objects awe April as she navigates this alternate universe of coal and wood.Conservationists shouldn't despair, for there are numerous references to the need to use coal, for instance, responsibly—already coughs are in the ambient sound.
Avril's Extraordinary world is an alternative time line in which Napoleon V rules France and the scientist that help built the foundations of technology are missing, forcing the world into a steam punk setting, and Avril a young scientist herself has the key to our future.
I'm a huge fan of steam punk and I love seeing the design all over the movie.
I also like the style of 3D animation blended with computer generated images.
It's always a welcome change to see this other than the world we live in right now that is dominated by 3D animation.
It was a great adventure film, filed with character and characters that were smart and funny, and accessible to everyone.Good watch..
As a film fanatic who grew up watching lots of 2D animations, I'm very happy to see they're still alive in other parts of the world after Hollywood abandoned them for 3D animations.
Especially when it comes to this kind of animation, obviously the France produced some extraordinary films in the recent years such as 'Ernest & Celestine', 'A Cat in Paris', 'Zarafa' et cetera.
This is an internationally produced film in the French language, but available in the English language too, which was based on the graphic novel by the French cartoonist Jacque Tardi.This is the story of a young girl Avril that takes place in the 1940s, Paris.
It is the parallel universe story, especially when it comes to the technology, the world is underdeveloped and is in the steam age.
So before they catch her, she must find her family members if they had survived the crash a decade ago to put an end to all the surrounding mysteries.Usually Europe means fairy tales with magic stuffs, but this is an sci-fi-adventure.
Feels like watching a Japanese anime.
Excellent story, the brilliantly developed characters with lots of suspense and thriller, so I don't think it makes sense to call it a comedy or children's film.
Definitely for all ages, the film has a bit of everything to please the people from different generations.
Directed by the two new directors, but their's experience is the fine result of this film."Cats don't dance.
So it comes in the line of 'Boy and the World', but all the focus was turned towards the family of scientists and their adventures than to press harder on the important issue.
Avril might be the centre of the story, but the film character distributed widely and theirs story were well preserved to keep the excitement and pace steady till the end.
So be prepared for some unexpected, because it's very matured yet a light humorous film.The title might give an expression of a cliché, so if you expect a fantasy tale, then you're in the wrong place.
When the actual story ends, there's an extended scene which makes us to dream for a sequel to come.
Apart from the story, the technical brilliance was like par with the Animes, especially it reminds Miyazaki's films.
These directors must keep doing films like this and who knows they may become the French versions of Tomm Moore.One of the best animations of the years.
Instead, it is a mid 20th century story and totally an entertaining film with the breathtaking visuals.
That's really very sad, but if you are an international film fan then you should give it a try and animation fans must not skip it.
Like I said you won't often get a film matured, at a time funny as this one where adults and children can sit together.8/10.
Its story explodes with creativity, especially compared to US animation (which tends to severely underestimate the intelligence of children).
Its "ligne claire" - animation style is both a break from US-animated CGI, which hasn't been successfully adapted in Europe, and an homage to the patron saint of European comics Hergé (co-director Ekinci did, in fact, do the storyboards of the 1991-92 "Adventures of Tintin" TV series, which is often considered to be the best adaptation).
Leaning on Jacques Tardi for the visuals is a reminder that BD (bandes dessinées) adaptations work best in the classic animated form.
One cannot help but compare "April" to Luc Besson's real-action adaptation of "Adèle Blanc-Sec", Tardi's most famous work.
That movie was a commercial success, but BD fans were disappointed with the humorization of a serious story-line and the cheap-looking effects.What's not so great about "April" is that it's so voluntarily old-fashioned that you may have a hard time convincing your kids to watch it.
It seems that French animators still cannot bring themselves to realize that the times they are a-changing, and that a l'art pour l'art approach cannot reinvigorate an expiring industry, apart from justifying a 9.2 million budget (against which it has earned 5%).
Given the character's lack of expression, the film relies heavily on the dub, and I must say other actresses could have done more justice to the part of April than Marion Cotillard - Mélanie Laurent, for instance, or Chiara Mastroianni who voiced Marjane Satrapi in her BD autobiography "Persepolis".
He speaks his lines with great candor and veracity, as does Olivier Gourmet as the father.So what you get to watch here is a very creative, if old-fashioned animation, which could be of more merit to adults than kids, who may find it hard to follow and perhaps somewhat boring.
This is not a perfect European animated film for the whole family - that would be last year's Irish "Song of the Sea".
It's also not a fandom film for BD connoisseurs, as the dub and continuity jar a bit, and as there is no commitment to a mature audience, like in the works of Sylvain Chomet.
But if you're starved for anything animated that is not Japanese or yet another US CGI-film about talking animals, this one is definitely for you..
The drawings and animation change from the big modern Disney blockbusters that we've gotten used to, but this is something that actually goes very well with the BD-like style of the film: you really feel like seeing an high-quality comics that somehow came alive, it's fantastic!
Avril and the Extraordinary World is a nice French animated film set in an alternative past that diverts from real historical events starting from 1870.
The result is a steam-punk world, dependent on coal first, on tree logging then, a world in constant war and where scientists are used as weapons.The film has a great start and even the initial credits are beautifully presented.
Although this is mostly a fun and adventure story, there are some interesting environmental messages embedded in the story, as well as a light reflection on the role of science and scientists in Society.
The character of Darwin, the talking cat, is utterly charming.
I found the second half of the movie really engaging, entertaining and with a cohesive story, witty and fun, and the ending was also lovely.Having said that, this was a disappointing film for me, certainly not what I expected beforehand especially taking into account the raving reviews.
1/ The story needed of better characters.
3/ The story needed of a bit of more humour and fun.
4/ The movement was chunky some times, very good at some others; the lighting and chiaroscuro were almost non-existent, and the characters were not polished visually.
2016 has really proved to be a great year for film.
April and the Extraordinary World may not be on the level of some truly fantastic animated films (Kubo and the Two Strings, Tower, The Red Turtle, Zootopia) but it's still a very good film in its own right.
It's a very classic action-adventure story, one where you could also see working in live action (although not exactly because many of the characters would not translate to live action as well).
That ending was also really effective, with the last scene really hitting on some great themes that the film had only previously alluded to.
In 1870, Napoleon III meets with scientist Gustave Franklin who is developing a serum to turn animals into super soldiers.
Scientists disappear and the world remains stuck in the steam age.
April (Marion Cotillard) escapes with her serum-altered talking cat Darwin.
April hopes to finish her parents' work and ends up uncovering a shocking conspiracy.This is a fascinating world.
The story too was a bit outmoded, seemed to steeped into traditional storytelling of graphic novels of four decades ago.
In an alternate time line where scientific progress stalled in La Belle Époque, a young women and her talking cat search for the secret of immortality, only to find themselves pursued by both the police and agents of mysterious organisation.
The film is fun and imaginative with some excellent steam-punk imagery.
The story/script is good (other than a predictable 'twist' at the end that a more clever script would have made less obvious), the voice cast in the English version I watched fine, and the style, adapted from French artist Jacques Tardi is was a refreshing change from the anime look that has become so common.
There are lots of clever details in the background, so the film is worth paying attention to (or watching a second time)..
I prefer a lower frame with a higher quality over a higher frame rate with a lower quality.It's not realistic, but it wouldn't work as well if it was.It's not really a kids movie, because it has some very dark themes, some violence, and some death.
Tardi is one of the best authors of graphic novels of all time, and this movie shows you a glimpse into one of the possible imaginary worlds of his.
And if you haven't yet, then you MUST read his graphic novel series "Adèle Blanc-Sec", of which a live-action movie version was made in 2010.
Feels like a classic adventure story..
Set in a rich, pseudo steam-punk alternate-history - established by a clunky, if well thought-out, set-up sequence - and brought to life with fluid, weighty, almost 'Tin Tin'-esque faux cel-shaded animation, this detailed French sci-fi/ fantasy stands out thanks to its fantastic, forward-moving action-sequences and uniquely designed world, both of which constantly feed into the rather fresh-feeling narrative to create a cohesive and generally compelling experience.
'April And The Extraordinary World (2015)' very much feels like a comic-book brought to life, which is good - beyond the inherently aesthetically pleasing value this implies - because it's actually an adaptation of a graphic novel (which I haven't read).
Overall, it's an entertaining experience that genuinely feels like a classic adventure story.
The set up is a little long but establishes the foundations for a truly extraordinary alternate world of steam-punk machinery, walking houses and talking animals.
Intriguing inventive animation for grown-ups with a delightful lead character..
This quite fantastic film had so much that reminded me of old Miyazaki pictures!I was fascinated from beginning to end.
A fully original and intelligent movie with a developed story and fantastic characters.
Wonderfully imaginative animated adventure.
'Avril et le monde truqué' or 'April and the extraordinary world' is a highly imaginative and charming film - an animated picture that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
The story is brilliant and unusually mature for an animated picture, but with the same entertainment value as any animated film aimed at kids.I enjoyed the characters a lot in this film, especially the talking cat.
A minor character which brought so much to the overall enjoyment to the film.
The animation itself is a lot more simplistic than most these days, but it sort of adds to the overall charm of the film.
'April and the extraordinary world' is a wonderfully imaginative animated adventure, definitely worth a watch..
This animation tells the story of a post Napoleon would, where all scientists are captured, and the world becomes very different due to a lack of technology.
The last surviving free scientists strive hard to create the serum that can make life perpetual, but mysterious forces are after them.The colour scheme of the animation is dark and dull.
The characters are not cute either, and therefore it's hard for me to develop a liking for it.
Though the story is quite engaging, I still don't find myself developing a connection with April and her experiences.
The most fitting title for an animated movie since The Incredibles.
I am especially fond of Darwin for eventually possessing the ability of "kittenvincibility", one of the best improvised words I have seen in an animated film.
Despite the flaws in the story, this is regardless a must-see film for anyone who has a taste in animation or science fiction, with its emotion and humor being loaded with brass.
The steam punk alternate universe is the most interesting thing about this film.
I would have liked it better if the film had omitted these types of fantasy elements and stuck to science fiction elements such as the steam powered automobile and cable car.
There is an English version too.April and the Extraordinary World is kind of like a steampunk TinTin with sci-fi and a bit of romance.I completely disagree with anyone who says it is mainly for steampunk fans.
I think the characters look great, even without too much detail, and the scenery is just amazingly drawn.It is so nice to get a break from too much detail 3D CGI which all the rich companies are using nowadays.I also totally disagree with anyone who says the style is too "old".
I think the old style is nice, and I'm not 40.I'd definitely recommend this movie to old and young..
"Avril" offers a Gallic take on the steampunk phenomenon, by giving us a tale set in a ficticious France which looks and feels somewhat like a badly mauled nineteenth-century France unceremoniously dumped in the year 2015.
It was unclear to me who or what is the intended audience : the tone, especially during the first half, is too dark and bleak for children, while adults are unlikely to be impressed by magic potions and talking cats.
Moreover, "Avril" works best for an audience familiar with French history ; if you know bupkas about, say, the Second Empire, Napoleon III or the architectural evolution of Paris you might consider leaving the movie alone and spending your time in another way.