One of the more surprising critical hits of 2003, Sylvain Chomet's Belleville Rendezvous is a French animation that combines occasional beauty and charm with sardonic grotesquerie. People have commented about its bitchy portrait of a USA where everyone is overweight and over-helpful; it is equally nasty about a provincial France, where everything is grey and nothing is convenient. A grandmother and her dog set out to rescue a cyclist who has been kidnapped by the French Mafia and is forced to race endlessly into a receding projected landscape; she is helped by a superannuated trio of female close-harmony chansonniers marooned in American poverty.

Nothing in this film is mere chance--almost everything we see turns out to be relevant. There is also little dialogue--most of the time, sound effects and music take its place, from the irritating squeak of a mechanic's breathing to the sublimity of Mozart's "Kyrie" as a storm rages at sea. Belleville Rendezvous uses the best of traditional animation techniques and modern technology to produce something sharply funny and beautifully composed; it is not quite like anything you have seen before. --Roz Kaveney

I will not spoil the plot for you, instead here is my thoughts after watching this...

Quirky, imaginative and beautifully crafted.

Belleville Rendez-vous is one of my favourite films as the pace of the events is perfect. Grotesque and humourous qualities are inseparable in the animation and we are left amusing yet musing over the characters and the plot.

I have watched this many times and I always see or hear something new; each character is symbolized by an animal and the sound of the animal is played as appose to human voices- yet this is subtly done (listen out for it: horses, frogs, mice, monkeys and more!)

A strange and fantastical animation: a timeless masterpiece

The film is 5 star, get it when it's cheap, but I got it free in a newspaper about a year ago, shouldn't it be like, ??1.98?

Whatever else anyone likes or hates about this fmin, its the small details that really make it work.
The very weird music hall scene with the Triplets - featuring Django Reinhardt (the guitarist playing with his foot), Josephine Baker getting attacked by monkeys after the bananas, and Fred Astaire getting eaten by his own tap shoes, for one.
Next, the passage of time, with the sudden appearance of the railway bridge, pushing Madame Souza's house aside.
Then there is the impossibly steep road Champion cycles up, followed by Grandma on his old trike.
The massive ocean liner - straight from an art-deco poster with its sleek and stretched lines.

Belleville Rendez-Vous (The Triplets of Belleville)

A quirky french animation about a young boy who realises his dream. It's a movie I haven't seen which I have been meaning to see for a while and strange quality about it drew me in. Its interesting to see the relationship develop with the young boy and his grandemother over the years, the funny clockwork barking of the dog and I like the way the beginning mirrors the ending. Its caricatural nature and the musical tie-in make it a funny and enjoyable watch. Cracking 'silent movie', a must see for those into the wierd and wonderful.

This is a brilliant film

However, do not, as suggested buy The Triplets of Belleville [2003] with the film Belleville Rendezvous - is is not a perfect partner as IT IS THE SAME FILM!
The first is the North American title, the second the European title...