April and the Extraordinary World

Dir: Franck Ekinci, Christian Desmares

2015

*****

Based on the visual style of the great French Illustrator Jacques Tardi and reminiscent of many of his stories (The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec) April and the Extraordinary World is a beautiful sci-fi animation incorporating some of the many themes of Jules Verne's work (among many) and Steampunk (or Coalpunk as many Steampunk enthusiast friends of mine have pointed out). I do love this futuristic alternative look at the past from the viewpoint of the future. The story is that the world's greatest scientists have been kidnapped, so all modern technology as we know it was never invented and the world still depends on coal as a power source. It is wonderfully inventive and very original. I've read a few graphic novels and books with this as an idea but this is my favourite visual representation of it and a nice antidote to what I see as a rather overdone genre of cosplay. It also features giant lizards, remote controlled rats and a talking cat, as if I needed anything else to get me interested. The one really interesting element of the film that is never addressed is that the Second World War hasn't happened, the film being set in 1941. There is lots of take in and enjoy in the film but it is these little changes in timelines that are there for the viewer to ponder over that I really like about it. The idea of a suspended steamboat that travels between Paris and Berlin, that has twin Eiffel Towers as its main station is such a great alternative image of history but not that different from ideas of the time, such as the rise of the Zeplin and how the Paris to New York flight would station itself on top of the Empire State Building. I love all that history and Franck Ekinci and Christian Desmares bring it to life superbly, adding that all important magic as they do. The characters are also quite wonderful and it would be criminal for this not to progress as a series, although the ending is so perfect maybe it should just be left there. It's a must for lovers of alternative animation, the animation itself is subtle and simple where it needs to be and astonishingly detailed where it counts. Desmares worked as animation coordinator on 2007's Persepolis and Ekinci was a story board artist on the early 90s run of The Adventures of Tintin, so the story was always in good hands and both projects give an idea of the sort of style and quality you can expect. I really hope they continue to collaborate and that the future is kind to April, it had a relatively quiet release but it deserves success, albeit a cult following.