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France · 2011
1h 40m
Director Joann Sfar
Starring François Morel, Hafsia Herzi, Maurice Bénichou, Jean-Pierre Kalfon
Genre Animation, Comedy
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In Algeria's Jewish community in the 1920s, a rabbi's cat eats a parrot and gains the ability to speak. The rabbi, finding the cat rude, attempts to teach him about the Torah and eventually agrees to give him a Bar Mitzvah in this animated film adapted from the graphic novels of the same name.
This feature-length 3D adaptation of Sfar's comicbook series shares many of the same virtues and problems of his solo, live-action helming debut, the biopic "Gainsbourg," in that it is often colorful, witty and inspired, but also too episodic, and lacks a strong ending.
Despite its flaws, the film is at least a consistent vision, attesting through both its story and animation to the rabbi's right to be different while also striving for human solidarity.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Though we wander a bit, the trip is a delight, thanks to the witty company.
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
The film presents an often sharp commentary on dueling beliefs and idiocies that unfolds in lush pastel hues and distinctively retro drawings.
The movie is trying to do far too much and doesn't do anything well. "Ambitious" isn't the word here; "random" is more like it.
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
While the scenes don't always fit together thematically or tonally, each one is its own polished gem.
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