Product Description

An orphaned boy Champion is raised by his grandmother Madame Souza. Her gift of a tricycle starts a craze for cycle-racing that becomes the cornerstone of their life together. After years of relentless training Champion makes it to the Tour de France the toughest cycling event in the world. Alas Champion and a handful of other top competitors are mysteriously kidnapped by a pair of sinister crooks with hangdog expressions. Supported by her faithful sidekick her fat and flatulent dog Bruno Madame Souza sets off to rescue her beloved Champion. An epic adventure leads them across the Atlantic to a vast seaport metropolis named Belleville headquarters of the notorious French mafia. Lost and confused in the threatening darkness of the great city Madame Souza and Bruno encounter the Belleville Triplettes who in their youth were a glamorous close-harmony act. Now these three batty old women are now a bizarre jazz combo. Mme Souza joins the band. At their very first gig she discovers Champion is being held captive by the mafia Godfather himself! All hell breaks loose and the chase is on! Do Mme Souza her dim dog and the Triplettes have what it takes to outsmart the ruthless French mafia and release poor Champion from its clutches?System Requirements:Run Time: 81 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396032316 Manufacturer No: 03231

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5594 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 78 minutes

Amazon.com
Words cannot capture the delights of The Triplets of Belleville, an astonishing animated movie from the mind of French director Sylvain Chomet. In fact, there are only a few spoken sentences in the entire film; most of the soundtrack is a mix of squeaks, barks, and the jazzy music of Benoit Charest. A bicyclist is kidnapped from the Tour de France by mysterious gangsters; his grandmother travels to the city of Belleville (which has a sardonic version of the Statue of Liberty in its harbor), where she tracks him down with the help of a musical trio gone to seed, the Belleville Triplets. This hand-drawn movie is unlike anything you'll see from Disney; every scene mixes the silent comedy of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton--in which the world of objects subtly fights with living beings for mastery--and the bouncy hop of Betty Boop. Unique and mesmerizing. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
A boy is given a bicycle. He grows up to compete, under the tutelage of his ferocious grandmother, in the Tour de France, only to be kidnapped and smuggled overseas. The old lady, with a panting hound in tow, tracks and retrieves the unfortunate cyclist, aided by three crones who feast on a casserole of murdered frogs. Such is the gritty, fantastic plot of Sylvain Chomet's animated film, which could only have emerged from a culture in which the worship of comic books approaches the status of an organized religion. Indeed, there is much to revere in Chomet's swollen caricatures and vertiginous angles, although agnostics may be tempted to point out that a little elastic surrealism goes a long way, and that to learn the exact details of somebody else's dreams-which is what this movie feels like-can be at once haunting and tiresome. In French, just about, though most of it is noise, and no subtitles are required. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

the French response to Japanese animation
"Triplets of Beleville" is absolutely a treasure from the French director Sylvain Chomet. The details, story, humor, character development, the relationship between the characters, and the pure delight rivals that of the great Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki's works. It is absolutely a pleasure watching this almost speechless story unfold all the way to the final scene. Most of the dialogue, if any, is in French, but no subtitles. And that is intentional: you don't need it. Now that takes some good story-telling to achieve. And this film achieves in leaps and bounds. Chomet clearly has a different philosophy than the American animations going into his art. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that Disney or Pixar works are not good, "Triplets" is just one of the most outstanding and different in story telling and the use of the medium that I have ever seen for a long time in an animated work. They say the devil is in the details. Well, then this is what makes this movie. I almost drowned in the images on the screen. The heart-felt story and just the way the story was eccentrically told stayed with me for a long long time after i left the theatre. Not since a Studio Ghibli (Miyazaki-Takahata) masterpiece have made me feel this way. Just for the details alone I could watch this over and over again. Therefore I can't wait to buy the DVD so I can make this story mine. I recommend this to all Miyazaki fans to check it out. You won't be disappointed. Enjoy. You will.

Words Can't Describe
This artistic animation film is nothing short of incredible. This movie literally had me speechless. A movie finally worthy to challenge the wonderful Finding Nemo in the Oscar race for Best Animated Feature.

The French Film is directed by the artistic Slyvain Chomet. The plot rests around a grandmother, Madame Souza, her weary-eyed grandson Champion and a faithful chubby dog. As a young boy, Champion was always depressed and sad with his life. His grandmother could see this and would try everything to cheer him up. After failed attempts of a toy train, playing the piano, and a cute cuddly dog; she realizes he truely yearns for a bicycle. The movie flashes forward to him as an adult. He is training for the Tour de France with his ruthless grandmother coaching at his every side. During the actual race, he is kidnapped by the French Mafia, along with other cycleists where they are taken to Belleville and used for underground gambling. His grandmother seeks out on a journey to retrieve him and on the way gets help with the once famous triplet nightsingers.

Calling this movie bizzare would be just an understatement. To start things off, this movie has close to no dialogue what so ever. The entire movie consists of sound effects and oddball music. Typically a movie with a lack of plot and almost no dialogue seems destined to be a failure. But this is where the amazing animation comes in. The drawings are incredibly breath-taking. If it wasn't for the animation, I would have left my seat a long time ago. Mr. Chomet's love for drawing is evidently seen through his work. This is his first full length movie.

Before this movie, Mr. Chomet was busy drawing comics. This is where he gets most of his subtle humor. For example, his drawings are so strange, that he gives every character a unique base look. Champion has a narrow face, small waist, and over exagerrated muscular legs much like a cycleist. It's in these terms, he can take something normal and turn it into an exagerrated comedic moment. His opinion on Americans is shown and deeply funny. For example, the mysterious place Belleville is opened with the statue of liberty, only the statue is of a fat woman holding a hamburger instead of a torch. Throughout the city, all the characters walking are overly obeast. The famous sign "Hollywood" reads "Hollyfood". It's this kind of dry humor that is very witty and appealing to the audience.

I'm most impressed in that this movie keeps your eyes constantly watching even through there is a lack in dialogue. A couple of lines is all it has and nothing more. The rest are just sound effects and quirky music played by the triplets and the grandmother. They use all kinds of instruments, from a refrigerator to a bicycle wheel. The music is odd yet appealing. I found myself constantly tapping my foot in rhythm with the crazy style. But in this movie, dialogue really isn't even needed. Mr. Chomen's drawings give enough character development in itself. Champion, throughout his older self, still has the same sad eyes as he did when he was a young boy. The grandmother is ruthless in that she always carries her whistle around blowing it to help her son in cycleing. The dog is the best out of all the characters because the audience gets a chance to see the images of the psychological dreams the dog has and why he barks the way he does at trains. If anyone is a lover of dogs, the scenes involving the dog are enough to win over any fan.

These qualities truely set this movie out to be a masterpiece. Though lack of dialogue and simple plot, the animation, music, and quirky witty humor alone provide enough entertainment to turn this film into extraordinary. I am thankful it's nominated for Best Animated Feature. Although I want it to win and definitely think it deserves it over Finding Nemo, I fear the advantage of an earlier presence in Finding Nemo will win voter's hearts. Even if it doesn't win, it is definitely a film Mr. Chomet should take pride in. I recommend this film to everyone. Some will love its humor. Others will think it's just plain weird. But all will admire it's fantastic animation and its totally original idea.

Pure delight!
Madame Souza is a (Portuguese) sweet grandma who worries about her orphaned grandson's great sadness. Nothing interests Champion, at all; it's touching how Madame Souza cares about him and constantly watches him in order to find out what would possible bring the boy some happiness - watch TV, a piano, a puppy dog. So, when she discovers that Champion's biggest interest in life are bikes, she immediately gives him a tricycle - and the little one is pure joy when he sees it in front of him.

Champion grows up to be a professional biker (coached by his beloved - and demanding - grandma) who takes part of the famous cycle race Tour de France. However, something wicked comes to his way when he, in the middle of the race, is kidnapped by sinister men in black and taken to Belleville - making Madame Souza and her faithful dog Bruno start a long journey to rescue him. In Belleville, they meet the Triplets of the title, three very eccentric old ladies who back in the day were famous singers.

A wonderful, touching and interesting story, with charismatic characters and beautiful drawing. Almost without dialogue (it isn't really necessary), we see the most unusual instruments being used for massaging (a lawnmower, a vacuum cleaner and a whisk) and playing music (a coffeepot, a refrigerator, a newspaper and, again, a vacuum cleaner); we meet the Triplets living in an old, crappy building and having for dinner frogs, frogs and more frogs; and, finally, we watch four old women, a very fat dog and two skinny guys fighting the Mafia - all with our eyes glued to the screen.

For me, one more thing makes "The Triplets of Belleville" even more appealing - the dog Bruno. He just *is* my deceased Basset Hound Hommer... All Bruno's little quirks are very real - he isn't a dog's cartoon, who talks, thinks and bosses the humans around; he is just a sweet chubby dog, and that's what I love in him!