Wonderful animated film from France concerns a put-upon dad who works in an office writing movie scripts. His kids love his stories so they enter him in a contest to find out which dad is the best storyteller in France. Getting to the TV station he finds himself competing with various dads, including his arch rival from the office who will do anything to win. As the contest proceeds our hero and the other dads (and one mom) proceed through the contest. They find out that someone is trying to stop them from winning at any cost (it's not giving anything away to say that dad's arch rival from work and his wife are the cheaters). Who will win?
A great tale full of wonderful stories and wicked asides, this is a kid's film that doesn't talk down to kids. Yes it looks like it's aimed at five year olds but there is a great deal more going on with wicked subtexts and lines of dialog that are decidedly adult (there are some curse words here). I absolutely love that the film talks to kids as kids, so we do get poo jokes and a story about farting cows and pies in the face.
And lest you think it's just for kids this plays great for adults. In the screening I saw this at many of the longest and biggest laughs came from the moms and dads who really got the jokes. If it wasn't aiming for everyone I don't think they would have done riffs on Mick Jagger, Ray Charles, and the Beatles.
This film is an absolute joy. It's a film that needs to get a US release, especially by a company that won't dumb it down and take the heart and soul out of it.
If you can see this film rush out and do so; even if you don't have kids, see this movie. It's simply great storytelling.
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