April and the Extraordinary World

April and the Extraordinary World has a lot of the things I go to the movies for.  It has an imaginative and well-designed world that is a marvel to look at, it's exciting, it's bright and fast-paced, and it has characters that immediately endear themselves to you.  I can easily see myself watching this many times, picking up on things I previously missed.  The movie is being given a very limited theatrical release that will slowly expand across the country, and I truly hope you seek it out, because it's one of the most imaginative films we're likely to see this year.

The premise behind the film is built around an alternate history where in the 19th Century, all of the great scientific minds of the world mysteriously went missing.  Perhaps that ominous black cloud that floats about the sky over the world and shoots lightning at random has something to do with it.  Because the world has not been gifted with the invention of electricity, the entire world is run and controlled with steam.  By the 1930s, coal has become so scarce, the nations are fighting against each other over lumber supplies.  Most of the world has become a clanking, Steampunk nightmare, with coal black skies, massive dirty-looking towers, and cable cars and primitive airships that float in the sky.  The air has become so polluted, most people are forced to wear gas masks outside.  There is one haunting image early in the film, where the lead heroine visits an amusement park, and the rides are all metallic and wooden monstrosities, as the park goers all are forced to wear masks over their faces, so as not to breathe in the air.

This world comes from the mind of French cartoonist, Jacques Tardi, and if this film is anything like the original graphic novel he wrote that inspired it, then he is an expert at mixing invention, adventure, humor and fun into one perfectly flowing story.  The movie never once feels heavy-handed, nor does it feel the need to throw its imaginative world in our faces.  It is subtle, and lets us explore it along with the characters.  There is also a certain flow to this movie, where everything makes sense.  And believe me, given how weird this story can get by the third act, that's saying something.  I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say I did not see the climax coming, and while it's certainly bizarre, the filmmakers make it work.  Are aspects of the story ludicrous?  Quite so.  But the movie finds a way to make us accept it.

So, most of the world's scientists are being kidnapped right off the face of the Earth, and the few that avoid this fate are being tracked down by the police, so that they can make weapons for the military.  We meet young April (voice by Marion Cotillard), who as a child witnesses her parents get taken away by a roaming black cloud, while her grandfather Pops (Jean Rochefort) is forced to go into hiding from the police.  Her only companion now is her talking pet cat, Darwin (Philippe Katerine).  As a teenager, April is frantically trying to recreate the super strength serum that her parents were working on before they were kidnapped in order to save Darwin's life, as by this point, he has grown ill and is near-death from the polluted air.  She tries to keep her experiments a secret, but the police know about her secret scientific actions, and even send a young man named Julius (Marc-Andre Grondin) to track her and spy on her.  All this, and she has to avoid that secret organization that took her parents away, too.

This begins a lively adventure, as April, Darwin and eventually Julius are forced to team up to find out what is really behind the disappearances.  There is so much fun, invention and humor behind the story that it makes some of the more dark and heavy recent Hollywood blockbusters like Batman v. Superman seem even more archaic.  April and the Extraordinary World is at its core a hopeful and optimistic movie.  Even with some of the more gritty and dirty Steampunk images that make up the film, there is always a sense of invention and wonder, not despair.  And by the time we get to the beautiful and heartfelt final scene, we find ourselves walking out of the theater on a natural high that only a truly great film can achieve. 

This movie simply made me happy.  It was showing me a world I had never seen before, while also telling an engaging story with characters I could get behind.  It made me think how rare it is we get all of these things in one movie these days.  Can you remember the last time a film left you feeling not only inspired, but just plain cheerful?  It's also a family film in the truest sense of the word, as it's appropriate for both kids and adults.  Yes, there is some violence during the climax, but it's nothing most kids have not already seen in a dozen other cartoons or video games.  Besides, it never once dwells on the violence.  Kids going to see this will get to see a world that's unlike their own, and it is almost certain to spark their imaginations.  With so much cookie cutter family entertainment, that alone cannot be ignored.

April and the Extraordinary World is being shown in both its original French soundtrack with subtitles, as well as a high quality English dub featuring Hollywood talent like J.K. Simmons, Susan Sarandon and Paul Giamatti.  You really can't go wrong either way.  As the movie slowly expands across the country, I hope the film will be embraced by viewers.  It's the kind of entertainment we don't see enough of, and deserves to be seen.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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