France a moving force in animation that is not just for children

On the occassion of the release of A Monster in Paris tomorrow, we look at how France has emerged as one of the leading lights of the animation business.

A Monster in Paris features the voices of Vanessa Paradis and Danny Huston. Courtesy Everett Collection

In the world of animation, it tends to be Hollywood-produced projects that rule the roost. Industry juggernauts make sure their computer-animated efforts are the talk of the film industry every year and, aside from the occasional upstart (such as Britain's Aardman Animation) it remains a battle between America's Disney-Pixar and DreamWorks Animation to move the format forward.

Over the past few years, however, one country has emerged as an interesting alternative to these massive franchises. Since the turn of the century, French animation has begun to gain momentum with audiences, creating word of mouth that has seen them win some top industry accolades and providing cinemagoers young and old with a new alternative, thanks to bringing back some old techniques.

But who are the leading names in this revolution, and where is it going? Tomorrow sees the release of A Monster in Paris in UAE cinemas, a French production that boasts all of the high-tech modifications of a Hollywood blockbuster: it is computer-animated, presented in 3D and features a noted voice cast in the French singer Vanessa Paradis, who is Johnny Depp's long-time girlfriend, and Danny Huston, a regular in big-budget productions such as Wolverine.

This film marks a shift in perception from most movies from France: instead of providing a uniquely French perspective or motif, A Monster in Paris feels accessible, and indeed is designed to be marketed to audiences outside France. This accessibility is thanks to the experience of the man calling the shots - the director, Bibo Bergeron, worked as an animator on several films for the big American animation studios, with credits including Space Jam, The Iron Giant and DreamWorks' Bee Movie starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger, which Bergeron directed.

While this family-friendly, marketable output is the end result of France's success in this field, what has distinguished it from other countries in the past decade has been the ability to produce animated movies that can also tell a much more adult story.

The prime example of this was Persepolis, the 2007 comic book adaptation telling the story of an Iranian girl living in the midst of a revolution in her country. Directed by the Iranian author of the comic, Marjane Satrapi, alongside the French filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud, the film managed to convert Satrapi's personal experiences into a story that is both visually spectacular and informative. An adult animation that tackles timely world issues, Persepolis has been hailed as one of the best non-English language films ever, winning the Jury Prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Indeed, the popularity of the film was such that the English translation attracted voice roles from big names such as the Oscar-winners Sean Penn and Gena Rowlands.

In the middle of this revolution stands a filmmaker who manages to create a happy medium between all of these factors: the Scotland-based French filmmaker Sylvain Chomet. Using traditional hand-drawn techniques, he has produced two celebrated and award-winning movies that manage to balance adult themes with a childlike sense of wonder and spectacle.

After launching himself on to the world stage with his first film, 2003's The Triplets of Belleville, it was the follow-up to this success that displays the rich mix of influences that exist within the work of Chomet and his contemporaries. His most recent, 2010's The Illusionist, was a heartbreaking tale of a late 1950s vaudevillian-style magician who finds himself out of work in his home city of Paris, and travels to Britain where he hopes to find more success.

While also a love note to his adopted city of Edinburgh, Chomet's film (adapted from a script written by a French mime more than 60 years before the film) has all the innocence and delicate humour of a family movie, but deals with darker themes such as abandonment (the original script the film was adapted from is thought to be an apology of sorts to the author's estranged daughter).

So where does French animation go from here? It appears that the future is already in motion, with the popularity of films such as Persepolis moving studios to trust in French directors for more mainstream, marketable projects. As well as showing in the UAE, A Monster In Paris is set for extended releases in the UK, Canada and Germany, with a US release thought to be announced soon.

Ahead of that, there will be a worldwide release of Tales of the Night, a feature-length compilation of the French animated series of the same name, shown in stereoscopic 3D. It appears that in a world where Pixar has shown "family" movies can also have something to say, these filmmakers have taken their chance to get a new kind of animation seen by a wider audience.

See tomorrow's Arts & Life for our review of A Monster in Paris as it opens in UAE cinemas