A Monster in Paris

Directed by Bibo Bergeron. Voices of Adam Goldberg, Jay Harrington, Danny Huston, Bob Balaban, Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis, Madeline Zima G cert, general release, 90 min

ISN'T IT peculiar the way certain unlikely subjects suddenly colonise one medium or another? Bibo Bergeron's tolerable French animation is, after Hugo, the second 3D family film of the season to concern itself with French silent cinema.

The folk behind The Artistwould also enjoy the early scenes concerning newsreel reportage of the 1910 Seine flooding. What can it all mean?

The animation won't give the makers of Belleville Rendez-Voustoo many sleepless nights. There are some pretty backgrounds depicting Paris awash in biblical deluges. But the characters have that shiny, inorganic quality characteristic of mid-budget digital trickery. Alluding to Phantom of the Operaand The Murders in the Rue Morgue, A Monster in Parisdoes, however, have a nicely absurd story that sets it aside from the slew of talking-animal films that inhabit the lower reaches of the genre.

When visiting his friend, a mad inventor, a film projectionist is witness to an extraordinary alteration. The spilling of potions causes a flea to be transformed into a monster and to be gifted a sweet, fluting singing voice. While the evil mayor searches for the beast, a chanteuse takes him in and seeks to develop his unlikely musical gifts.

The songs are decent and the English-language voice work is very much up to scratch. One gets the sense that Bergeron, director of the tolerable The Road to El Doradoand the abysmal Shark Tale,has, after his compromised Hollywood experience, returned to material that genuinely fires his creative glands. But one wonders for whom the film is intended. It's not arty enough for the crossover crowd and it's a bit obscure for younger children. Still, A Monster in Parisdeserves praise for ploughing its own singular furrow.