Sunday, January 25, 2015

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Jack et la mécanique du coeur)



tags: animation, fantasy, science fiction, tragic love story

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From Amazon
Edinburgh, 1874. On the coldest day in the history of the world, little Jack is born with his heart frozen solid. Wasting no time, midwife Madeleine takes action and saves his life by inserting a cuckoo-clock in place of his icy heart. And now Jack will live…as long as he observes three golden rules: 

He must never touch the hands of the clock. 

He must master his anger. 

He must never, ever fall in love. 

But fall in love he does, to a bespectacled young street performer, Miss Acacia, with a soul-stirring voice. Now begins a journey of escape and pursuit, from Edinburgh to Paris to Miss Acacia’s home in Andalusia. Based on the novel by Mathias Malzieu, Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a fantastical, wildly inventive tale of love and heartbreak, by turns poignant and funny, in which Jack finally learns the great joys, and ultimately the greater costs, of owning a fully formed heart.
I love animated movies. Toy Story 3 remains my favorite of all time. The recent Hollywood animated movies I've seen, unfortunately, only succeeded in annoying me, to name a couple: Frozen and Brave.

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, a French animated movie [original title is Jack et la mécanique du coeur], is wonderful. I really loved it and will watch it again. The animation is beautiful and the strange but fascinating story as well as the songs are great. I didn't mind the tragic ending which is done in a dream-like setting and not at all traumatic. I just wished the movie is shown in its original French audio including the songs. The English dubbing, thankfully, is done by British actors and not by American actors.

Highly recommended for adults and children over 12 years. One song and a few lines are a tad sexual and probably not appropriate for very young children.

Currently streaming on Netflix and Amazon.

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The movie is directed by Mathias Malzieu and Stephane Berla, adapted from a book and music album written by Malzieu who is with the French band, Dionysos. I listened to the French soundtrack and like the songs better than the English version.

The original soundtrack. Enjoy!


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