Another European animated movie which was nominated for an Academy Award, but failed to pick up the prize, is The Triplets Of Belleville, distinctly French in its styling just as Wallace And Gromit wore its Britishness on its sleeve. Writer-director Sylvian Chomet adopts a colourfully exaggerated cel animation technique to tell his story of a Tour de France cyclist Champion who is kidnapped by gangsters, leading his squat, elderly grandmother Madame Souza to set out in pursuit to rescue him (with a little help from Bruno the dog). With caricatured characters resembling something by Ralph Steadman and an absurdly funny finale (not to mention a wonderfully animated chase sequence), The Triplets Of Belleville is an entertaing and surreal animated Gallic trip well worth taking.
