Yeah yeah, inspired Miyazaki, considered greatest animated French film, blah blah blah. This movie is really a slog.
In fact, after ten minutes I came to IMDB just to get a sense of how people felt about it, and reviews were so enthusiastic that I went through another 20 minutes or so before giving up at last.
The animation is interesting, combining elements of 1930s Warner Bros and 1940s Disney. It also follows the surrealist Fleischer Bros. approach to story, which is to not bother explaining or making sense of anything.
The story is an odd fantasy about a kingdom of talking birds and living artworks, and the plot bumps along here and there before it settles into some sort of story, which is basically an old-school evil, lustful man interfering with true love.
It all moves slowly, and while it has typical cartoon gags, most of them simply aren't funny. In a half hour I think the only laugh I had was a cagey guy dodging a series of trap doors (which are a running gag in the film). Although to be fair I don't like most French comedy in general; I never got the Jaques Tati thing (loved Tall Blonde Man, but that was unusual for the French).
Whatever historical significance this film has, I can't watch any more.
In fact, after ten minutes I came to IMDB just to get a sense of how people felt about it, and reviews were so enthusiastic that I went through another 20 minutes or so before giving up at last.
The animation is interesting, combining elements of 1930s Warner Bros and 1940s Disney. It also follows the surrealist Fleischer Bros. approach to story, which is to not bother explaining or making sense of anything.
The story is an odd fantasy about a kingdom of talking birds and living artworks, and the plot bumps along here and there before it settles into some sort of story, which is basically an old-school evil, lustful man interfering with true love.
It all moves slowly, and while it has typical cartoon gags, most of them simply aren't funny. In a half hour I think the only laugh I had was a cagey guy dodging a series of trap doors (which are a running gag in the film). Although to be fair I don't like most French comedy in general; I never got the Jaques Tati thing (loved Tall Blonde Man, but that was unusual for the French).
Whatever historical significance this film has, I can't watch any more.