A totally charming and fun escapade into the antics of a cat burglar, A Cat In Paris' target audience – kids in and around five to six – may be put off by the subtitles. Other than that, it's a visual feast that might teach the young 'uns that not all animation has to be pop-culture led 3D extravaganzas. They're really not going to watch it, are they?
Seven-year-old Zoe hasn't uttered a word since her police detective father was killed by crime boss Victor Costa (Benguigui); her mother, Jeanne (Jean), also on the police force, struggles to juggle work and raising her daughter. Zoe's cat Dino does the best to cheer her up but also moonlights as company to skilled burglar Nico (Salomone). When Nico steals a statuette Costa is obsessed with, it sets all three groups on a collision course...
With a distinct style that brings to mind Cubism, A Cat In Paris looks beautiful and Nico's prances from rooftop to balcony to window are as graceful as anything you'll see. Directors Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol mimic the simplistic visuals by keeping the plot as elementary as possible for the age group they are aiming at. Saying that, it oddly gives serious weight to Jeanne's sadness and frustration over the death of her husband, as a snarling vision of Costa regularly manifests as a monstrous octopus that overpowers her.
Jean Benguigui's bad guy is fun: he and his bumbling underlings get up to goofiness that wouldn't be out of place in a Home Alone movie, with Benguigui as their Joe Pesci-type leader. There are plenty of rooftop chases and close shaves atop Notre Dame Cathedral to keep the finale as exciting as anything Hollywood can produce.
Even at seventy minutes, though, A Cat In Paris feels stretched and just manages to fill the running time. Cleverly the directors call time before repetition and boredom set in.