A Monster in Paris

The film is set in 1910; the story beginning by documenting the flooding of the River Seine that year.

A shy projectionist Emile Petit has a passion for film and is in love with his co-worker at the cinema, Maud. His friend, an exuberant yet obnoxious inventor and delivery driver, Raoul, picks him up from work to transport him in his bizarre vehicle (called "Catherine"), to obtain a new belt for his projector. In purchasing a new belt, Emile also buys himself a new camera, which would’ve been stolen by a local thief who had been stopped “Catherine” not malfunctioned. The story also introduces Lucille, a cabaret singer at the club L'Oiseau Rare ("The Rare Bird") and Raoul's childhood friend with whom he is on bad terms. Her aunt Carlotta is trying to marry her off to the wealthy Police Commissioner and Mayor candidate Victor Maynott. One evening, Raoul brings Emile to make a delivery to the Botanical Gardens. In the absence of the Professor who works there, the place is guarded by his assistant, a proboscis monkey named Charles. Despite the professor’s command left to Charles, Raoul experiments with an "Atomize-a-Tune" and an unstable "Super Fertilizer"; the former gives Charles a temporary voice of an opera singer, and the latter grows a sunflower seed into a giant sunflower. The plant topples towards Raoul and Emile, and an explosion occurs as the two chemicals were mixed. Everyone is unscathed, but Emile is convinced he has glimpsed a monstrous creature, with an illustrated interpretation later appearing in the newspapers.

An investigation is launched into the whereabouts of the creature by Maynott's second in command, Pâté, but is fronted by Maynott, in the hope of popular support for his mayoral candidacy. At the same time he tries unsuccessfully to charm Lucille. Meanwhile, Lucille is trying to find a new musician for her show, and turns down the cabaret's waiter, Albert for his terrible singing voice. Trying to vacate the cabaret through the back door , the latter stumbles across the creature and flees, terrified. Lucille is frightened upon seeing the same creature, but hears its euphonious voice as it sang. Through singing, the creature tells of how—as a flea—the chemicals in the laboratory explosion (the two aforementioned mixtures) enlarged itself to human scale and as a result was shunned by everyone in the city. Taking pity of the creature, Lucille therefore welcomes it as “Francœur”, after the passageway where she discovered him.

During the investigation, Emile and Raoul's role in the laboratory incident is discovered. For Maynott's interest in the creature and perceived opportunity to further improve his reputation, he disregards Emile and Raoul’s involvement as perpetrators, and awards them the Medal of Honor. On a challenge set earlier by Lucille, Raoul uses this to get the best seats at Lucille's show at "The Rare Bird", where she and a disguised Francœur sing as a duet. Unbeknownst to Lucille, the effects of the "Super Fertilizer" aren't permanent and Francœur is slowly shrinking down to his normal size. Emile and Raoul congratulate Lucille on her show after its close, but Lucille accidentally reveals the identity of Francœur, which Albert (who overheard her confession) reports to the police. Emile, Raoul, and Francœur narrowly escape and Albert is arrested on suspicion of lying to the police. The trio have trouble trying to figure out where to put Francœur, as he is too frightful looking to be seen on the streets and Maynott is still after him. Suddenly, Lucille comes up with an idea she plans to present during a ceremony tomorrow, in which the trio will reveal Francœur and feign his death.

The next day, Maynott opens the Montmartre Funicular, which serves Montmartre and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. Francœur is seemingly ‘killed’ after Maynott throws his ‘antidote’ at the creature and stomps it once it shrinks back down, but he quickly discovers Francœur hiding under the stage. Along with the police, Maynott chases Francœur and his friends through the streets of Paris where it concludes at the tip of the Eiffel Tower. Stranded in the flood, Raoul uses “Catherine’s” flap to swim there, but the vehicle sinks just as they make it to the Tower. Meanwhile, Maud (after receiving a date invite by Emile) arrives at the tower just in time for the ensuing battle, in which she supports Emile and admits her feelings for him. After a battle to protect Francœur from Maynott, a gunshot from Maynott and Francœur’s sudden disappearance lead everyone to believe that Francœur is killed. Maynott is then arrested by Pâté—who feels remorseful for aiding Maynott in his rampage—for the premeditated murder of Francœur on the basis that the latter is innocent.

Later that evening, Lucille is distraught by the disappearance of Francœur, but Raoul convinces her to sing anyway. Whilst struggling to begin, she hears Francœur as a normal-sized flea singing in her ear, much to her happiness. Sometime later, the absent Professor returns from his trip to New York and he restores Francœur back to human size with a new mixture upon Raoul and Charles’ retelling of the situation. Francœur takes second billing on the posters advertising Lucille's show. Lucille and Raoul later share their first kiss in Lucille's dressing room. In a flashback, it is revealed that Raoul misunderstood Lucille's intentions when she took his favorite toy truck as a child—she had hoped that he would pursue her.

In a mid-credits scene, Raoul, Lucille, Francœur, Maud, Emile, Charles, Carlotta, and Pâté scatter super-fertilized sunflower seeds to drain the flooded Seine of its water. In a post-credits scene, Maynott is shown in the same cell as Albert and the thief from earlier, forced to endure the duo's appalling singing.

The film was released in 2011 in France, Canada, Belgium, South Korea, Russia and Ukraine, released in 2012 in Croatia, Kuwait, Hungary, the UK, Ireland, the US, Malta, Israel, Estonia, Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Portugal, Netherlands, Lithuania, Taiwan, Mexico, Italy, Iran and Japan and released in 2013 in Peru. The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an aggregate score of 87% based on 23 reviews (20 "fresh" and 3 "rotten").[4]

Annie Awards 2014

• Annie Award - Outstanding Achievement in Character Design in an Animated Feature Production - Christophe Lourdelet - Nominated

César Awards, France 2012

• César Award - Best Animated Film (Meilleur film d'animation) - Bibo Bergeron (director), Luc Besson (producer) - Nominated
• César Award - Best Original Music (Meilleure musique originale) - Matthieu Chedid, Patrice Renson - Nominated

The soundtrack includes both songs and short clips from the film, in both French and English. The soundtrack of the English version was released in the UK a few days after the film's release on both CD and digital download. The album is credited to Vanessa Paradis & (-M-)

• A Monster in Paris at IMDb