I have a good friend who makes it their goal every year to see all of the films nominated for the major Academy Awards categories. That's certainly an admirable goal, but I have no interest in this task. In recent years, I've found that the movies which I enjoy and the Oscars have little to do with one another. Having said that, I never turn down the opportunity to review an "Oscar caliber" film, if for no other reason than to reinforce the knowledge that "Best Picture" is rarely close to being the best movie of the year. Thus when "Best Animated Feature" A Cat in Paris him my doorstep, but I was game to check it out...and not just because it had a cat as its star.

A Cat in Paris follows the double life of a feline named Dino who lives in the city of lights. By day, Dino lives with a girl named Zoe (voiced by Oriane Zani). Zoe is a sad girl, as she has not gotten over the death of her father. Due to this, she doesn't speak. She lives with her mother, Jeanne (voiced by Dominique Blanc), who is a superintendent in the police. She works long hours, as she's made it her life's mission to capture Victor Costa (voiced by Jen Benguigui), the man who killed her husband. Thus, Zoe is left in the care of the housekeeper, Claudine (voiced by Bernadette Lafont). By night, Dion visits a thief named Nico (voiced by Bruno Salomone), and the two traverse the rooftops of Paris, stealing treasures. Things come to a head when several events transpire at once. Zoe follows Dino to see where he goes at night, as Costa comes to town to steal a priceless statue. All of these players will intersect, brought together by a curious cat.

Did you expect an animated film to have a story that deep? I know that I didn't and I only scratched the surface of the intrigue going on in A Cat in Paris in that synopsis. Writers Alain Gagnol and Jacques-Remy Girerd have created a story with a surprising number of layers and characters. This could have easily been yet another European art movie (more on that in a moment), but they've infused the story with enough action and emotion to keep things interesting. Thanks to Disney, we're very used to movies where a child character has only one parent (and what's up with that -- why no two parent families in Disney movies?), but we rarely see a movie where one of the parents is deceased and the other is out for blood. Similarly, Zoe could have easily been an annoying character, especially given the selective mutism angle, but her story is handled delicately and we genuinely feel for the child. The only real misfire with the story is the handling of Costa and his men. They are truly stereotypical movie gangsters and they feel very tired when held next to the fresh ideas elsewhere in the movie. The movie truly suffers in the scenes which focus solely on the villains.

For me, the most surprising thing about A Cat in Paris involved the cat himself. This is no anthropomorphized animal who can walk upright or talk or have an internal monologue. He is simply a cat who is regular in every way, save for his want to accompany a burglar. Dino simply serves as a catalyst (no pun intended) who moves the story forward. However, that's not to say that he's not important to the story. He may not be able to talk, but he is fiercely loyal to his friends and this makes a difference in the end.

The one thing that I didn't like about A Cat in Paris (and I realize that this is a big thing) was the animation. The animation is done in an impressionistic (?? -- that's what my wife called it) style where most characters are shown in profile and the features are exaggerated. While humanoid shaped, some of the characters are our proportion. Their movements, especially those of Nico, are often odd. (I realize that Nico's fluid moves are meant to illustrate his skills as a burglar, but they still look weird.) And while I appreciated Jeanne's vision of Costa, younger viewers may find that creepy. And as for what Costa does at the end...well, that was weird. Perhaps I've grown too accustomed to the clean lines of modern CG animation. The film's score also features the stereotypical "cafe" music heard in many French films. (I've never been to Paris. Perhaps that music actually is everywhere and you can't escape it.)

At just over an hour, A Cat in Paris is short and sweet. But, it packs a lot of story into that running time. The script is compelling and surprisingly substantial and the characters are interesting. The finale contains more action than I was expecting, and while I wasn't crazy about the animation, I did admire how the blackout was handled. I don't know if I would A Cat in Paris, but it's certainly worth checking out.

A Cat in Paris contains an awesome running gag about a dog on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of New Video. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 34 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain or defects from the source material. The colors look very good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The HD transfer does reveal some irregularities in the hand-drawn animation, but this also adds to the film's charm. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. As much of the movie takes place in the streets of Paris, there are a good number of surround and stereo effects which highlights the sounds coming from this environment. Some of these are nicely detailed and the speaker placement is creative. The Disc also carries an English track which features the voices of Marcia Gay Harden, Anjelica Huston, and Matthew Modine.

The A Cat in Paris Blu-ray Disc contains only a few extras. "Extinction of the Saber-Toothed Housecat" (4 minutes) is a short which combines animation and live-action backgrounds, as we watch the adventures of a cat who looks like a distant relative of Garfield. As far as I can tell, this is in no way related to A Cat in Paris. "The Many Lives of a Cat Video Flipbook" (9 minutes) takes us through concept art for the film which shows how the tone of the film changed over time. The art looks the same as the finished film, but in the planning the movie vacillated between being darker and being funnier. The final extra is the U.S. TRAILER for the film.