10 Wonderfully Quirky And Eccentric Animated Movies

4. The Triplets Of Belleville

In the early 2000s it seemed as if 2D animation was on its way out - with CG animated features increasingly popular and a growing technology capable of taking animation forward in leaps and bounds, traditional animation looked like it might become a thing of the past. Then, along came Sylvian Chomet with his debut animated feature The Triplets of Belleville (released in the UK as Belleville Rendez-vous), proving that the question, "2D or not 2D?" wasn't up for debate any time soon. Minimal in its dialogue and drawn with an incredible flair for caricature, The Triplets of Belleville tells the story of grandmother Madam Souza as she sets out to rescue her grandson Champion from the gangsters who kidnapped him so that they could use his cycling talents in their seedy gambling operation. Along the way, Souza is joined by the Belleville Triplets, a trio of music hall singers who help on her quest. Trading sharp dialogue for a litany of brilliantly conceived visual gags, the film wears its Jacques Tati inspiration on its sleeve, with the slapstick humour as fresh and inventive as Tati's greatest films (Chomet would go on to make The Illusionist, an animated version of an unproduced Tati script, a wonderfully low-key tale of parental estrangement). The Triplets of Belleville missed out on an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2002 - the award went to Pixar's Finding Nemo - which is a shame, since Chomet's vibrant world is considerably more original. Chomet's experiences with Hollywood reflect the different sensibilities between the US and Europe - he was sacked from directing Tales of Desperaux, complaining about "the blatant commercialism of the endeavour was depressing".