French Animation, Chapitre 9 - The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales

Previously: April and the Twisted World

What is it?
While the United States are currently enjoying Cars 3, Pixar's latest outing will only open in August in France. Instead, French animation fans are treated with a new feature film by Benjamin Renner, one of the directors of the critically acclaimed Ernest & Celestine.
This time, Renner adapted one of his own comic books, Le Grand Méchant Renard, which was published in 2015 and for which he took his inspiration from French literature classic La Fontaine's Fables.
Though he was only a director on Ernest & Celestine, he co-wrote this one with Jean Regnaud and co-directed with Patrick Imbert.

Watch: A Trailer for 'Big Bad Fox' by one of the 'Ernest and Celestine' Directors

Benjamin Renner (one of the directors behind the great Ernest & Celestine) is directing Le Grand Méchant Renard - Big Bad Wolf in English (along with Patrick Imbert, animation director on Ernest & Celestine and April and the Twisted World).
Big Bad Wolf is a traditionally animated film based on Renner's comic book of the same name, which was released in 2015.

Check out the trailer for the film (with French dialogue) below.

'Asterix: The Land of the Gods' is Getting a Sequel

Asterix: The Land of the Gods was released in France in 2014, and is soon opening theatrically in the UK (1st April, 2016), where it will be known as Asterix and Obelix: The Mansion of the Gods. At A113Animation, we enjoyed that film a lot, so we were pretty stoked when we learned this morning that a sequel was on its way.

Sylvain Chomet ('The Triplets of Belleville', 'The Illusionist') is Back With 'The Thousand Miles'

Concept art

Variety reports that Sylvain Chomet, the man behind The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, is going to release his third animated feature in 2017. After venturing into live-action filmmaking, Chomet is coming back to his roots with The Thousand Miles.

French Animation, Chapitre 8 - April and the Twisted World

Previously: Asterix: The Land of the Gods

What is it?
April and the Twisted World (aka Avril et le Monde Truqué in its original version) is a 2D animated adventure film set in a steampunk/uchronic world; in 1870, a single event derails the course of History, and in the 20th century France is still an Empire ruled by the Bonapartes (most of the film happens under the tenure of Napoléon V). The great scientists of the world are mysteriously disappearing, which causes scientific advances to stall. As a result, everything runs on steam or coal and the Earth has gone through a massive deforestation.
The story follows April, a young girl living in Paris with her talking cat Darwin. She'll have to find out what happened to the scientists, including her missing parents.

Watch: Second Trailer for Mark Osborne's 'The Little Prince'

Following the recent announcement that the film would premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, in the official selection but out of competition, The Little Prince just unveiled a wonderful second trailer. Watch it below.

Watch: English Trailer for Mune

Cloneweb got its hands on the first English-speaking trailer for upcoming French animated movie Mune, and it's pretty good. From the world-building to the character design to the music, Mune looks like it's going to be an impressive and one-of-a-kind film.

Watch it after the break.

French Animation, Chapitre 7 - Asterix: The Land of the Gods

Previously: The Secret of Kells

What is it?
Asterix is originally a French series of comic books created in 1959 by brilliant author René Goscinny (this reviewer recommends everything from him - Oumpah-pah, Le Petit Nicolas, Iznogoud, Les Dingodossiers, his Lucky Luke stories - it's all gold) and artist Albert Uderzo. It tells the adventures of a Gaulish warrior and his village resisting the Roman occupation. Asterix has become a massive success, and is one of the most popular French-Belgian comic series worldwide - if not the most popular. It has spawned numerous animated and live-action movies, of varying quality.

French Animation, Chapitre 6 - The Secret of Kells

Previously: The Illusionist

What is it?
Loosely based around the creation of the real book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript, the story follows Brendan, a curious boy living in the Abbey of Kells. He is interested in the art of illumination and is an apprentice at the Abbey's scriptorium, but he would also like to go outside. He is not allow to though, because his uncle, Abbot Cellach, won't let anyone outside the walls of Kells. Cellach is obsessed with the fortifications he's building around the Abbey in order to protect it from Viking invasion. To the Abbot, Brendan's passion is merely a distraction from what's important.
The Secret of Kells is an Irish-French-Belgian film, directed by first-timer Irish illustrator Tomm Moore, and written by French scenarist Fabrice Ziolkowski.

French Animation, Chapitre 5 - The Illusionist

Previously: Ernest & Celestine

What is it? 
Helmed by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville), The Illusionist is based on a script written by French filmmaker/actor Jacques Tati. The famous director allegedly wrote the screenplay in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and intended to shoot a live-action film out of it. But he never did, and the script ended up many years later in Sylvain Chomet's hands, who chose to do it as an animated film, because the very idea of someone stepping into Tati's shoes for the role of the main character was absurd to him.
The story, set in Scotland, focuses on the relationship between an illusionist and a girl who thinks he really is a magician.

Kung Fu Panda Director Helming The Little Prince

Apologies for the latency of this post, but news broke earlier this week that Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne is directing an animated adaptation of the beloved, 70 year-old, children's book, The Little Prince.

French Animation, Chapitre 4 - Ernest & Celestine

Previously: Persepolis

What is it?

Ernest & Celestine is loosely based on a series of books written by Gabrielle Vincent between 1981 and 2000; it's the story of an impossible friendship between a mouse and a bear. The film opened in France in December 2012, and is heading for a Fall 2013 release date in the United States - not sure about the rest of the world though. 

In the following review, I'll try to convince you to see Ernest & Celestine when you get the chance. You've been warned.

French Animation, Chapitre 3 - Persepolis

Previously: Le Roi et l'Oiseau

What is it?

Based on an autobiographic graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis tells the story of Marjane Satrapi, from Iran to France, via Austria. The film was directed by Satrapi herself and Vincent Paronnaud, and released in 2007.

French Animation, Chapitre 2 - Le Roi et l'Oiseau

Previously: The Triplets of Belleville

Also known as The King and the Bird and all sorts of variations around that (The King and Mister Bird, The King and the Mocking Bird...), Le Roi et L'Oiseau is considered by many the greatest French animated film ever made (although I think The Triplets of Belleville deserves that title) and I can see why a large number of people would think that. Le Roi et L'Oiseau is indeed a near perfect film, a one of a kind masterpiece, and it ranks just behind the Sylvain Chomet-tale in my hierarchy of French animation.

French Animation, Chapitre 1 - The Triplets of Belleville

Foreword
This is the first in a series of French animated film reviews I will be doing in the near future. This won't be an exhaustive list, as I'll only be talking about films that deserve to be reviewed; there are a few that I think are not as renowned as they should be, and I'll using this column to help resolve this. Spoiler alert: all reviews will therefore be favorable to the movie they discuss.
And here it goes...