‘Phantom Boy’ soars in animated film noir
From GKIDS and the people who brought us the Oscar-nominated “A Cat in Paris,” Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol, comes “Phantom Boy,” yet another French-language, traditionally animated, offbeat film noir. It’s about an 11-yearold boy named Leo (Marcus D’Angelo), living in a Gallic version of New York City, whose grave medical treatments endow him with the power to leave his body and go on ghost-like adventures in real space.
Leo must return to his body when his astral self begins to turn blue or he will be stranded. Leo’s middle-class parents are deeply concerned for their son. His little sister Titi misses the big brother who reads books to her.
At the same time, a local flic named Lt. Alex (Edouard Baer), who is the scourge of his ill-tempered captain, is on the trail of a Picasso-visaged criminal known as the Man with Broken Face (Jean-Pierre Marielle), or just The Face, a Dr. Mabuse-like figure blackmailing the New York City mayor. Was that an animated Tony Soprano I just saw?
The Face also wants to kidnap Marie (Audrey Tautou), a young, attractive newspaper reporter, who has romantic interest in Lt. Alex, because she has written an unflattering story about the criminal mastermind. The Face, meanwhile, plans to shut down the city using a computer virus.
The film, which features a non-talking mutt with the face and temperament of a mean old man, can be seen in either French or dubbed into English with a different voice cast. I suggest seeing the film in its native language. Besides, the English language version features coarse New Yawk accents. I think children can handle reading subtitles and hearing French spoken aloud.
Stylistically, the film resembles “A Cat in Paris” with its slightly cubist-influenced faces and expressionistic angles. If it’s not quite as beguiling as “A Cat in Paris,” “Phantom Boy” still has its charms. A haunting score by Serge Besset (“A Cat in Paris”) is once again a major asset.
(“Phantom Boy” contains scenes of people in peril.)