This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Vibrant color and fluid hand-drawn lines mark the animation in this French-made caper, which earned an Oscar nomination for best animated feature.
The title character is Dino, a feline who leads a double life: By day, he's the pampered pet of Zoe, a mute girl whose mother, Jeanne, is the overworked police commissioner; by night, he's the accomplice to Nico, a kind-hearted cat burglar who's the target of Jeanne's current investigation.
When Zoe follows Dino one night, she discovers her cat's criminal sideline. Zoe soon becomes a prisoner of the gangster Victor Costa and his bumbling thugs, and it's up to Nico and Dino to rescue her.
Directors Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli create a great-looking movie, especially in the liquidlike movements of Nico and Dino and the splashes of color that make up Zoe's Paris. The screenplay, by Gagnol and producer Jacques-Rémy Girerd, falls into some familiar cop-movie clichés — which are more pronounced in the weak English-language dubbing employed for the film's U.S. release.
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'A Cat in Paris'
Opens Friday, July 27, at the Tower Theatre; rated PG for mild violence and action, and some thematic material; 70 minutes. For more movie reviews, visit nowsaltlake.com/movies.