A Cat In Paris

Zoe (Zani) is a shy girl whose cat Dino brings her lizards it catches on the roof, but even this doesn't get the attention of her single mother Jeanne (Blanc), an overworked police detective. What she doesn't know is that Dino switches his allegiance at night to Nico (Salomone), an acrobatic cat burglar who prowls the roofs and ledges of Paris. Meanwhile, Zoe's mother is looking for the Victor (Benguigui), the gangster who killed her husband. And when Zoe and Nico finally meet, they must team up to escape the tenacious Victor and his goons.

The animation is like an imaginative child's storybook come to life, with imagery that looks like it was drawn with coloured pencils and chalk. Bright colours and an attention to detail make every shot utterly magical, all accompanied by Serge Besset's fantastic score, which like the images themselves continually references noir classics. The textures are simply beautiful, as is the design of the characters and settings and the way it's directed with kinetic energy and wit by Felicioli and Gagnol.

More important is the fact that the characters are full of spiky attitude; even the minor characters overflow with personality. Victor's gang members are hilarious, as is Zoe's cranky nanny (Lafont) and a hilariously yappy little dog. And through each scene, Dino purrs and stretches, observing everything while providing the connective tissue between the film's various plot threads.

Then when Zoe winds up at the centre of the action, the stakes get much higher.

The twisty, fast-paced story takes some seriously scary turns, as Zoe and Nico get into one terrible situation after another, and neither Jeanne nor her partner Lucas (Bouillon) will listen to anything they say. But we can understand Jeanne's single-mindedness, as she's tormented by the demonic spectre of her husband's killer. And as the events continue, there are all sorts of surprises in store for the characters and for us as viewers.