''A Cat in Paris'' (french: Une vie de chat, lit=A Cat's Life) is a 2010

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

by the French 2D animation studio

Folimage Folimage is a French animation studio, based in Bourg-lès-Valence, Drôme, France. It was founded in 1981 by Jacques-Rémy Girerd. The studio produces animation films for cinema and TV (short films, TV specials and series, feature films). In 199 ...

, telling the story of a young

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ian girl whose cat leads her to unravel a thrilling mystery over the course of a single evening. The film was directed by

Alain Gagnol Alain Gagnol (born 1967) is a French film maker. In January 2012, he was nominated for an Academy Award for the animated movie ''A Cat in Paris''. He also directed ''Phantom Boy ''Phantom Boy'' is a 2015 animated fantasy film directed by Jean-L ...

and

Jean-Loup Felicioli Jean-Loup Felicioli (born 1960) is a French film maker. In January 2012, he was nominated for an Academy Award for the movie ''A Cat in Paris''. He also directed ''Phantom Boy''. Born in 1960 in Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrt ...

. ''A Cat in Paris'' was first screened on 15 October 2010 at the Saint-Quentin Ciné-Jeune Film Festival. It was released in French theaters on 15 December 2010. International distribution is by Films Distribution, Paris. The film was nominated for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Animated Feature.

Plot

A black cat with red stripes leads a double life. During the night, he accompanies a burglar named Nico (who calls him Mr. Cat), who performs heists to steal jewels. During the day, he lives with a girl named Zoé (who calls him Dino). Zoé, who lost her voice after the loss of her father, has become distant from her mother Jeanne who works as a police superintendent, and is looked after by a lady named Claudine. Nico gives Dino a fish-shaped bracelet, which he passes on to Zoé. At the police station Jeanne briefs her colleagues on protecting the Colossus of Nairobi statue, which cost her husband his life at the hands of the notorious Victor Costa. Victor Costa intends to have another go at the statue while it is being moved, with help from his codenamed accomplices, M. Bébé (Mr. Baby), M. Hulot, M. Grenouille (Mr. Frog), and M. Patate (Mr. Potato). Back at home, Jeanne takes interest in the fish-shaped bracelet and brings it to her colleague Lucas. Lucas deduces that the bracelet matches up with burgled items from

Rue Mouffetard Rue Mouffetard () is a street in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. Situated in the fifth (''cinquième'') arrondissement of Paris, Rue Mouffetard is one of Paris's oldest and liveliest neighbourhoods. These days the area has many restaura ...

. Zoé sneaks out of her house and follows Dino. She spies Victor's lot, and finds Claudine is working for Victor and has been gaining insight on police movements. Zoé is spotted, but is rescued by Nico. Nico takes Zoé to hide in the zoo, but Victor's gang pick up her trail. Fortunately Zoé escapes in a boat. Lucas finds a lead on the robberies trailing directly to Nico's residence. When Nico returns to find Zoé at his place, he is arrested by Jeanne and Lucas, presumably having kidnapped Zoé. Jeanne leaves Zoé in Claudine's custody and goes with Lucas to find Victor. Unable to convince Jeanne and Lucas of Zoé's predicament, Nico escapes in order to find Zoé. Jeanne is able to confirm that Nico's claim about Zoé is true. Claudine has taken Zoé to Costa's house, where she is locked away. Thanks to Claudine's perfume, Dino follows the scent and leads Nico to the house. Nico is able to whisk Zoé away after he cuts the power and dons his

night goggles A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The devi ...

. Victor pursues Nico and Zoé to Notre Dame. Nico falls while trying to mislead Victor, but is saved by Jeanne, who has just arrived at the scene. As Victor captures Zoé, Jeanne, with Nico and Dino, come to the rescue. Nico has to save Dino when Victor pushes the cat over the edge of a nearby crane, leaving Jeanne to confront Victor. Plucking up her courage, Jeanne saves her daughter and strikes Victor, putting him in a hallucinatory trance. Before Jeanne can help Victor, the gang leader swings from the crane to what he imagines is the Colossus of Nairobi, but falls to his death to a truck below. The rest of the gang, including Claudine, are arrested and Zoé regains her voice. Nico reforms himself, gives up thievery, and becomes a member of the family, while Dino becomes the household pet. Nico gives Jeanne a snow globe with the

Cathedral of Notre Dame Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

in it as a Christmas present.

Voice cast

Reception

Critical response

''A Cat in Paris'' has an approval rating of 83% on

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website

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, based on 64 reviews, and an average rating of 6.79/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''A Cat in Paris'' depicts a stylish, imaginative world with a wonderful soundtrack and Hitchcockian overtones". It also has a score of 63 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Prior to the Oscar nomination, the film was little-seen in the United States, although it screened at a few children's film festivals. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "a gorgeous hand-drawn feature that is one of the highlights of this festival. ... Without being too frightening, it projects a sense of danger, both physical and emotional, that is more engaging than the high-pitched thrills of the domestic films." ''Time Out Chicago Kids'' gave the film four out of five stars, describing how "this cartoon noir distills Hitchcock into 64 brisk minutes for middle-schoolers and up"; the review elaborated that the film "announces its retro visual style with a dynamic title sequence that zips across the screen, bursting with Saul Bass-influenced dynamism." It also noted that, despite the title given to the film in English-speaking countries, "its French title, ''Une Vie de Chat'', translates as ''A Cat's Life''."

References

External links