The Argonauts (95 minutes) Directed by David Allaux, Eric and Jean-François Tosti ** ½
Sacred heart! This French tale has to be one of the strangest animated adventures to grace our screens in several years.
A vegetarian cat who loves drama and his adventure-seeking ward greek mythology obsessed bookworm rodent i can join. Salty, hooked, wedge-legged gulls? hire me. A broken relationship between God’s brothers and sisters causing trouble for those below? classic. Skeleton army? Could there be another?!
Even the seemingly unlikely ninja aspirations of the comic buddy rat at least have the potential to make a smile.
But eventually, there was a point where this mixture of Jason and Argonauts (or should it be Blankmange) started to fall apart for me.
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Our setting – of sorts – is ancient Greece (Greek island of Yorgos at least) and yet our heroes encounter a trio of Italian mob rats, the pesky Poseidon keeps introducing “Hasta la Vista” as a kiss line and a pair of scorpions acting like California surfers (although their motto is Recurring is “Serenity Now” (Net Costanza).
It all becomes incredibly confusing and suspenseful (after a while you’ll dread how to explain the many potential questions on the journey home) – and that’s before the bizarre inclusion of a disco soundtrack and musical cues from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The A-Team.
Such a bizarre pop culture flourish is a shame because Argonuts (a much lesser title than the original French title, which translates to “Pattie and the Wrath of Poseidon”) definitely has potential.
With salty seabird captains, daring mice, and theater-loving cats, The Argonuts is a children’s movie that’s more whimsical than fantasy epic.
When the islanders finally came to erect the statue of Zeus, whose golden fleece had protected their seaside home from all threats for many years, they knew only that he would send his brother Poseidon to land.
Annoyed by Zeus’ taunts, the trident-wielding sea king rushes to the side of the pier and demands that they build something equally dazzling in his honor or he will unleash a cataclysmic event that will wipe their city from the sea. a map.
Usually this is when they turn to their hero, Jason. But he was old and crippled, and his navigator was now a pile of bones.
However, after reading every book in the library dozens of times, little mouse Patty knows exactly what to do. Tales tell of a nearby island home to sapphires ideal for fishing in the slippery sands. There is only a small matter of finding a crew willing to embark on what would be a potentially deadly journey.
Where else would you find Italian mafia rats if not in a French movie based on Greek mythology?
Presented by the trio behind the French animated series The Jungle Bunch (David Alau, Eric, and Jean-François Tosti), it delivers a great message about self-confidence, but also gives the impression that the plot is launched at speed.
Zeus decides to dump a baby Kraken on our little group or sailors “just for fun” (as one of the many moments in the movie), while the ending feels like a real showdown after all the perils encountered along the way. out of the way.
A movie much stranger than a fantasy epic.
The Argonauts will open in select theaters nationwide on April 6.
