The Triplets of Belleville
- Review Date: May 2, 2004
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 2003
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Common Sense Media says
Astonishing, outlandish, and full of laughs.
 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie's rating comes from brief crude humor and some violence.
What's the story?
The astonishing, outlandish, and singular originality of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE defeats any attempt to describe or explain it. But it also makes it a lot of fun to watch. I can only tell you that it begins with a black and white segment with the title characters scat singing in a swanky 1930's nightclub. It turns out that this is being watched on television in the 1960's by a young boy with his grandmother and their dog. Then we see the boy years later, grown up and a Tour de France competitor with formidably muscular legs. He is kidnapped and his club-footed grandmother and aging dog, aided by the now-elderly triplets, go to the rescue.
Is it any good?
The semblance of a plot is barely relevant to this movie. If it's about anything, it's about vision and imagination. Each scene is cheerily stuffed with arresting graphic effects, vertiginous angles, witty visual puns, and imaginative flights of fancy.
Everything looks both familiar and strange at the same time, with quirky combinations of old and new Paris and New York, all deliriously and deliciously loony. The triplets throw explosives into the water to catch the frogs they eat for dinner. The bad guys look like a big black wall. And Bruno the dog has a dream that is only slightly more surreal than everything else.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about the assortment of sources and inspirations for the movie and compare it to other styles of animated films, including the Disney classics and Japanese anime.
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Parent
December 11, 2011
AGE
excellent, bizarre move
Fantastic animation. Nearly no dialogue. I watched this several times with my kids when the younger was about 7 or 8. She needed help following the story, but enjoyed it nonetheless. The older one (11 at the time) loved it.
Basically a story about a cyclist who is raised by his grandmother who acts as his trainer after his parents are killed. He works hard, but is kidnapped in a bizarre plot. The grandmother - who is a great character, an old eccentric lady who just does whatever needs to be done to save her grandson (she is the amazing role model) - eventually saves him, after many strange adventures.
What other families should know:
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Adult
April 9, 2008
AGE
Fabulous but not for kids
How wonderful. Everyone should have a dog named Bruno. Charming, great music but very sophisticated and all in French so it could go over the heads of younger kids who think that because it's a cartoon, then it's for them.
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Parent
April 9, 2008
AGE
Better for Adults
There are so many obscure cultural references, this movie surely goes over most children's heads. Plus there are some rather grotesque scenes showing topless dancing and women of ill repute. I was not comfortable watching this with my 11 year old daughter.
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Adult
November 28, 2010
AGE
Love the Triplets and friends!
This is not a children's movie but i enjoyed it thoroughly. I was reluctant to view it when a friend told me about but I love it. It is witty and clever and beautifully done. The music is great and the characters well developed and drawn.
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Parent
August 21, 2011
AGE
Sadly let down
My family were engrossed with this film but surprised when they discovered where the kidnapped cyclists were taken and for what purpose. The music performed by the triplets caught my girls imaginations 9 and 11 and showed that art is expression. Toad soup and popsicles had us laughing in disgust and the love of a mother who never gives up is inspiring. But again cultural gems for adults are over the kids heads. I loved the art, music and burlesque of real life reflected in this film. The kids liked the music, the theatre and watching a young man turn into a cycling champion. Unfortunately they lost interest in the organised crime turn of events and failed to finish watching it. Loved the mum (or nanna) a superb role model for relentless love. Good old Bruno and the beautiful animation. Such a sad reality of human nature to gamble on anything even death.
Is the depiction of bare breasted dancers offensive…I think not but be prepared to discuss this aspect with your kids.
For all it promised in the start I was really let down by the final stages of this remarkable film.
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Parent
May 12, 2012
AGE
What??
In the first 5 minutes, the movie starts with smoking cartoon characters, a topless dancing woman wearing only, well, either bananas or leaves around her waist, and a bunch of tiny people come onstage and pull them off her. It started out excessively mocking of obese people, which had no relevance to the story, and then became sad and bizarre. Matter of fact, that entire scene had no purpose, as best as we could tell. As many "weird" movies I've enjoyed, both foreign and not, I can't understand how anyone could enjoy this.
I only watched it because of the good review from this website, but neither my daughter nor I found it fun nor cheery. It was astonishing, but not in a good way. I'm just baffled at the recommendation from this site.
But for anyone still wanting to watch it, don't be fooled by this site's review stating "The astonishing, outlandish, and singular originality of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE defeats any attempt to describe or explain it." That's nonsense. It's a sad boy living with his grandmother and an increasingly overweight dog, with dead parents and a love of bicycles, who grows up to become an apparently professional cyclist, who is kidnapped by gangsters. Grandma and the dog get help and save the day. It's really not that complicated.
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Teen, 13 years old
June 16, 2009
AGE
Uniuqe and memorable cartoon is more violent than you'd think
This is a very good movie, it has very few lines of dialog and yet it keeps you interseted, it has some issues though:
1. A woman is topless twoard the begining of the film, but it's not very graphic (Plus it's animated).
2. Violence includes: shootings, car crashes, some peril, explosins, no on screen deaths, but deaths non the less.
3. IF you look closesly you can see the finger breifly fashed (But it's hard to see).
So overall this is a fun cartoon for teens.
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| Studio: | Sony Pictures |
| Director: | Sylvain Chomet |
| Cast: | Beatrice Bonifassi, Jean-Paul Donda, Michele Caucheteux |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 80 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 26, 2003 |
| DVD release date: | May 4, 2004 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | images involving sensuality, violence and crude humor |
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