The City of Lost Children

The City of Lost Children is mandatory viewing for everyone who says Tim Burton is weird. This extremely strange fantasy will either completely captivate you or you will stare at it with your mouth open and it will leave you with nothing. I’m in the latter group of viewers, just as in the case of Delicatessen. (20/04/2003)

Despite the very flimsy script, the film completely captivated me with its audiovisual adaptations and characters, especially the excellent creations of Ron Perlman and the cute adult Judith Vittet. It is as if Caro and Jeunet had distilled Burton's fairy-tale gloom and mixed it with Terry Gilliam's eccentricity and existential chill. All this in a strange curve that very much bears their seal. The fact that The City of Lost Children looks familiar and yet is original is sufficient reason for me give the film a fifth star. (18/09/2008)

A film that is gloomy rather than depressing. Fantasy rather than a fairytale for adults. A nod to the literary "new weird" wave more than anything else. And it's excellent rather than just good. (05/05/2005)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet divides viewers of his films into two groups: those who admire his boundless imagination, sense of irony, and exaggeration, and those who shrug their shoulders at the strange playfulness that lacks a plot and is filled with bizarre characters they cannot identify with. The City of Lost Children is literally an embodiment of the director's style, a film that probably best characterizes both his strengths and weaknesses. The plotline is weak, but everything is compensated by Jeunet's playfulness, imagination, and visual style. Jeunet originated from alternative comics known for their grotesque, provocative nature, and artistic experiments. It has nothing to do with the classic American superhero and adventure-style comics. Jeunet would be an ideal director for films based on Max Andersson or other alternative art comic creators. It is delightful to observe all the quirky characters, decorative elements, and the whole peculiar world that Jeunet's imagination has created. As always, Jeunet cast his favorite actor Dominique Pinon in a key role, this time multiplying him seven times so that no viewer could overlook him. For the amazing sets and the unique atmosphere, I cannot give the film less than five stars. Overall impression: 90%. (07/04/2009)

The visuals (they are great!) of The City of Lost Children look like a cross between Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and let's say... Pitof. Beautifully stylized images create the right atmosphere that a grim fantasy tale should have. What brought the film down was the super weird and super uninteresting script. There was hardly anything going on in it, damn it! And when something was happening, it was so stupid it was shameful. In addition to all this, I was annoyed by the character of the little "cute" brother, who was always eating something and then burping... and the cloned idiots also didn't make it any better. At least the well-acted duo of Ron Perlman and Judith Vittet showed up in the lead roles and saved what they could. I give it a two and a half (I almost didn't finish the film), which I round up (for sticking it out in the end, and for the final youthful and aging scene). (13/06/2010)

A film that should be called a classic. In terms of the plot, it’s not revolutionary, but stylistically it’s an absolutely stunning and flawless fantasy that takes only the best of Terry Gilliam and manages to present it in an original and delectable way. A film about the importance of a child's view of the world, supported by loads of exceptional directorial ideas and the acting skills of Perlman the monkey or Pinon the chameleon. Harder to appreciate for its psychological austerity and seemingly ungraspable for its fidelity to classical narrative, but otherwise 100% appealing and intoxicating; the work of a master. (14/08/2017)

"He may be big, but he's not an adult." Caro and Jenuet weren't lacking self-reflection. In The City of Lost Children, the pair basically just upgraded from one building in Delicatessen to an entire city. Otherwise, it works with it in practically the same way. The harbor is a wonderfully structured multi-level space, full of bridges, staircases, canals, docks, crossings, pipes, sewer hatches, etc., with some dangerous secret (like a crazy diver living underwater in the harbor's underbelly) or adventure lurking around every corner. In this, for example, it often brings to mind the notion of the old city as a playground familiar from Foglar's books or non-linear video games like BioShock. For 1995, the film contains breathtaking special effects, amazing nonsense ideas, and absolutely uncompromising sets and costumes. Except that vegans, animal activists, and radical opponents of pedophilia will vomit out of the window, to be sure. (02/08/2020)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have made a visually beautiful film. It has something of the industrial feel, but it also has elements reminiscent of "Oliver Twist"; it's mature, yet presented as a fairy tale, where Dominique Pinon excels above all. He also demonstrates here not only captivating comedic abilities. Ron Perlman does what I would expect from him. But he does it well. (11/08/2017)