Login
Made up of equal parts of the colored pencil warmth of a children’s storybook and European noir-ish intrigue of To Catch a Thief, A Cat in Paris is a charming mixed bag. The combination of flavors never settles into anything coherent, but it’s consistently lovely to gaze upon, cozy and artisanal in equal measures almost in spite of the sharp turn into danger and never-ending chases that it descends into during the second half.
This burning style is all used it up by the time A Cat in Paris tries to wrestle up some escalating threats. The story concerns a mute girl, her police chief mother out for revenge on the gangster who killed her husband, her cat that sneaks away at night to aid a burglar, and a gangster looking to perform a heist that will tie all of these various plot strands together. The threat of violence never feels realistic, partially out of the animation style that looks a cross between the characters out of a Red Bull ad and a Starbucks promotion. It’s unique looking and consistently captures your attention, but it alternately undercuts any threats of violence. How can we believe anything bad will happen to our heroes if everything looks so twee?
There’s a lot of plot to work through in so short a running time, but A Cat in Paris manages it all effectively. Doesn’t mean it handles all of it well, with the ending a particular letdown as the burglar turns out to be a good guy and is never punished for his crimes. In fact, that last frame could make a case for the burglar and widowed police chief mother having formed a new family unit in the time since the story’s end. That is an odd turn of events seemingly at odds with the narrative around it, then the big reveal of the spy in the mute girl’s world for the gangster is obvious due to the limited amount of characters we’ve met. There’s so shock or awe there, but a shoulder shrug and a sense of “well, obviously, it couldn’t be anyone else.” Like the film around it, this revelation and the succession of chase sequences and daring thrills are vaguely satisfying. Come for the visuals and slick score, and be glad that it’s brevity masks a lot of its shortcomings.
