The City of Lost Children (1995) User Reviews

It's so bizarre that it's beautiful; it's so illogical that it's funny; it's so dark that it's so sweet.

[Varekai · 8/10 · 17 January 2005]

It's so bizarre that it's beautiful; it's so illogical that it's funny; it's so dark that it's so sweet. That's The City of the Lost Children. The plot it's that the evil -and weird- Krank (Daniel Emilfork) kidnap children to stole their dreams due to the lack of his ability of dream. Or at least he did it, until it came One (Ron Perlman), in the search of his adoptive little brother, aided by Miette (Judith Vittet), a street smart orphan child.

In technical aspects it's a master piece. The decoration give a baroque sensation of always being in small places, yet it's a full city populated of bizarre characters as the story itself.

The acting it's great. I'm quiet impressed for the flawless french that Ron Perlman show us, he's just simply astounding. I cannot say less of Judith Vittet, that being a child in that time she was a tremendous actress. The two have a good chemistry as a girl mature as an adult and a grow up man with the innocence of a kid.

I can't say that this is a movie that everyone would like, because it's not. It have a little of nonsense that might be not of the like of all the public. And all the dark atmosphere might be a little suffocating. So, take the risk and watch it, and then decide: you love it, or you hate it.

Actually, quite good!

[Plecostomus · 8/10 · 3 September 2006]

The first time I saw this movie I shook my head and wondered why I wasted three dollars renting this movie. It seemed to me that the storyline was worthless. However, I gave this movie a second chance, and this time instead of constantly reading the subtitles I paid more attention to the acting and events taking place on-screen.

I was shocked. The amount of creativity and symbolism blew me away. A lot of questions I had accumulated throughout my first viewing were answered by watching the movie carefully.

I recommend to everyone who thought this a poor movie to watch it again. If you don't speak French (like myself) try not to get so involved in the subtitles that you miss critical detail. It's there, and it's important, trust me!

Visually compelling but muddled movie

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 12 September 2014]

The evil Krank (Daniel Emilfork), his dwarf wife and his clone minions children (Dominique Pinon) have a machine to steal the dreams of young children because Krank can't have dreams himself. One (Ron Perlman) is a strong man performer whose little brother Denree is kidnapped by Krank's underlings, the Cyclops. Miette (Judith Vittet) is a young street kid who ends up helping him.

This has a lot of weird concepts on display. I can only describe this a outlandish mix of Dickensian poverty and a french grimy Jules Verne sci-fi with a good helping of weird surrealism. The visual is a good unique grim fairy tale but the story drags a little too much. It meanders and is confused. It is in love with its visual surrealism more than trying to make sense with the story. It should be a lot more simpler than what it is. It spends a lot of time luxuriating in the weirdness of the world and the villain.

a feast for the imagination

[Jeremy-93 · 9/10 · 24 January 2003]

I can't help myself: I adore this film. I freely accept that it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea; if pushed, I might even accept that it's not perfect. But there's no film I love more, or more enjoy re-watching. One caveat though: I've seen both the subtitled and the dubbed print, and the English dubbing frankly comes close to ruining the movie. Ron Perlman dubs himself and is fine, and some of the other adult English actors are perfectly OK, though they tend to be blander than the French originals. But most of the children are terrible, and with her own voice it's Judith Vittet's extraordinary performance (all the more extraordinary considering she was nine at the time) that helps give "La Cité" the genuine emotional centre that some viewers don't feel it has.

But I'll come back to that. In any version, at least Jeunet and Caro's astonishing visual flair and artistry come over. I can't think of a film that has such a concentration of memorable shots - time and again, especially watching on DVD with a freeze-frame facility, you realize how many beautiful compositions Jean-Pierre Jeunet gives us: though the cast of characters could easily fill a freak show, and the sets are dark and quite unglamorous in themselves, the cinematography is gorgeous and the mise-en-scène often strangely elegant. It has a look all of its own, perfect for a modern, urban fairy-tale. The music too is gorgeous, one of the finest scores by David Lynch's regular musical collaborator, Angelo Badalamenti.

"Fairy tale" is I think the best generic starting-point for this film, so long as you think Grimm rather than Disney. (Unlike "Delicatessen", it isn't really a comedy, though it has comic elements). And the plot works according to its own logic, even if the progression from scene to scene is occasionally a bit lumpy or obscure. Krank (the astonishing Daniel Emilfork), grown prematurely old because he cannot dream, uses a cult of blind, messianic preachers to abduct children from a decaying industrial port and steal their dreams - but they have only nightmares, and Krank falls ever deeper into despair and evil. It's up to the orphan pickpocket Miette and a none-too-brainy circus strongman, One, to put a stop to him. This rich idea is elaborated with all sorts of visual conceits and eccentric characters - Jeunet mounts, for example, a couple of astonishing sequences in which chains of unlikely effects proceed from the smallest of causes - but never at the expense of the central relationship of One and Miette.

In a sense Miette, like Krank, has grown old too fast: the orphaned street-children of this city are savvy and unsentimental, and never seem to have had a childhood; meanwhile there's something deeply childish, in various ways, about most of the adults. Sensitively directed and never overacting, Judith Vittet's Miette gradually thaws, and Ron Perlman brings a lot of sympathy and pathos to what could have been an oafish, cartoonish role: Jeunet gives plenty of space and subtlety to their gradually-developing friendship, and dares to do what I suspect no English director would dare to do at the moment, which is to make their relationship innocently sexualized. Neither of them is really a grown-up, but it's still an extremely risky move, exploring the first stirrings of pre-pubescent sexuality while trying not to be exploitative or prurient. I do think the film pulls it off, though I can imagine some viewers feeling distinctly uncomfortable with it. For me it's one of the most convincingly unsentimental and nuanced (if mannered) portrayals of childhood I've ever seen on the screen, and there is real compassion and tenderness along the way, as well as some darker twists and turns.

It's a film that rewards analysis if you're prepared to surrender to its strange world with its strange rules. But it rewards the senses and the emotions too - and it radiates love of cinema as the perfect medium for sophisticated fantasy. One elderly actress who appears towards the end (Nane Germon) acted - as Jeunet's DVD commentary points out - in Jean Cocteau's "La Belle et la Bête" about fifty years earlier (there are, by the way, distinct references to the Beauty and the Beast story here), and "La Cité des enfants perdus" deserves to join that film as one of the classic cinematic fairy-tales. Pity about Marianne Faithfull over the closing credits, though!

My all time favorite

[presence · 10/10 · 21 December 1998]

The City of Lost Children is my all time favorite movie. It is unlike anything I've ever seen or experienced before. It's a movie that I hold dear to my heart and will never forget. I have to be honest though, the first time I saw this movie, I really didn't like it at all. The story was too confusing, and the characters were extremely weird and twisted. After watching it a second and third time, however, I understood what was going on more, and could spend more time looking at the visuals rather than the subtitles. Speaking of visuals, this movie has it in spades. The environment that Jean-Pierre Jeunet created is out of this world. The city is very dark and the water looks as if there are secrets hidden within. The mood the soundtrack sets is perfect for the scenery and the superb acting by everybody (including the kids) just adds to the greatness of this flick. I highly recommend this movie, it's one of those movies that you will never forget watching, and the images will stay in your head for a very long time. A beautiful, beautiful, movie. 10/10

M. Perlman parle francais aussi!

[lwjoslin · 16 May 2003]

"City of Lost Children" is a beautifully-realized if derivative dark fantasy in which a mad scientist named Krank, aided by a half-dozen clones, a midget woman, and a brain in a tank, abducts children to his offshore lab so he can steal their dreams. Seems he's unable to have any of his own. A sideshow strongman, played by a radiantly fit Ron Perlman, goes in search of his little brother, who has been taken by Krank's goons. Perlman, in another of his growing gallery of bizarre roles, is a perfect example of why I like character actors better than big-name stars. And how many languages does he speak, anyway? French here, Spanish (and English, of course) in "Cronos"; polyglot in "The Name of the Rose"; what next?

The strongman, named One, enlists the aid of Miette, a homeless, streetwise girl who, along with her fellow urchins, is part of a ring of thieves employed by a pair of sinister female Siamese twins named the Octopus. (Watch carefully how these evil twins smoke a cigarette. There are more weird characters per square inch in this flick than anywhere else outside a Heironymus Bosch painting.) Miette is played by Judith Villet, whose gonna-be-a-great-beauty looks, her air of intelligence and experience beyond her years, make her a sort of Gallic Natalie Portman.

Anyway, that's the plot: rescue little brother from the mad doctor. The images are the thing: with its rendering of a bleak, low-tech retro-future, "City" looks more like a Terry Gilliam movie than "Twelve Monkeys" does! And it slyly slips in ideas and images from other sources, to good effect: Krank himself is as much of the mad-doctor stereotype as is the character in "The Nightmare Before Christmas"; his outlandish electro-headgear is similar to that used in Disney's "Merlin Jones"; a nightmare on the loose swoops low along the ground through streets and alleys as a trail of green mist, improving on a similar image from "Bram Stoker's Dracula"; there's a confrontation in dreamland a la the "Elm Street" series; and while the idea of a brain in a tank isn't a new one, this is the first benign one I've ever seen. Familiar or not--and I'm thinking also of "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T"--"City of Lost Children" is still engaging, enjoyably weird, fantastic and funny, helped greatly by the fact that One and Miette are so endearing. The pace is a tad slower than it might have been. But this is, after all, a French movie.

Amazingly difficult to rate--and I STILL don't know if I liked it!!!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 May 2008]

I sought out this film after seeing another film from the same production team that made the wonderful DELICATESSEN. However, while I adored DELICATESSEN and gave it a very high score, I wasn't nearly as impressed by CITY OF LOST CHILDREN--mostly because this film seemed to emphasize set design and weirdness, while plot seemed almost unimportant. In DELICATESSEN, there were of course the weirdness and odd sets, but the story and acting was so much more important and this made me care much more for the characters. In CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, it felt more like I was gawking at a freak show and there was just no emotional involvement--none.

In many ways, the film was reminiscent of several of Terry Gilliam's films--particularly BRAZIL. However, once again, BRAZIL had better characters and made me laugh. CITY OF LOST KIDS was just creepy and weird but with practically no charm.

Now this isn't to say it's a bad film or that I didn't like it--I did. But instead of an involving or funny film, it was almost all visuals and weirdness. As for the plot, it sure took me a long time to even understand what was happening--and it seemed like I needed captions to explain the captions as I read along with the film!! But given the amazing sets and cool characters, it still kept my attention. I particularly enjoyed seeing Dominique Pinon playing a bunch of clones. I have liked this odd looking actor ever since I first saw him in DIVA and he was the best character in both this film and DELICATESSEN. His delivery and manner is just captivating.

Now usually in most of my reviews I give a summary of the plot. Here it's very tough because I still am not 100% sure what I saw!! It all involves an evil genius who was created by one of the Dominique Pinons. This guy spends much of the movie kidnapping kids and trying to steal their dreams (kind of like an evil twist on MONSTERS INC.). At the same time, some evil freaks led by conjoined twins are thrown in as rival baddies. In the midst of this, Ron Perlman (who speaks no French in real life) and a little girl set off in search of Perlman's stolen little brother. There's more to it than that, but really I didn't think the story was that important--it was more a chance to give a canvas to all the weird sets and characters.

Overall, I liked seeing the film but I never came close to loving it. I recommend it for those with an appreciation for the very weird and perhaps lovers of French cinema. All others, proceed at your own risk.

C'est magique!!!

[supertom-3 · 9/10 · 8 July 2004]

I'm a fan of fantasy films. It's a mixed bag of a genre on all truth. Very rarely are there any great fantasy films. There are good ones or average ones that can merely get by on their looks. I do love the fact that fantasy films can paint such vivid and imaginative picturesque settings. As an example look at Legend. That was one of the best looking films ever made but the content of the film was not great. It was poorly scripted with hokey dialogue and a storyline aimed at 5 year olds, with creatures and effects that would scare the pants off younger children.

Now you look at the best ones and the rare ones that can be called classics with greats of other genres like Lord Of The Rings and in a more Sci-fi orientation, Star Wars. City Of The Lost C children is a French fantasy aimed at a more mature audience member, from 15 up really. It looks fantastic. The sets, the costumes, the effects, the cinematography turn this 15 million dollar film into something looking far more epic and majestic in scope. Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro take joint plaudits and credit as directors, Jeunut more responsible visually and Caro for the character and story. This is endlessly imaginative and immensely enjoyable and is very quirky.

The story centres around a mad scientist, Krank, who is unable to dream, because of this he is aging quickly and is old beyond his year. He grows insane and has developed a technique to view and capture children's dreams so he can thereby inject them into his own mind. He kidnaps children from the nearby village and brings them to his lair, a king of oilrig in the middle of surrounding sea. He is aided by his brothers who are four identical clones of each other, unfortunately they all suffer from narcolepsy. Krank himself is a clone. His father who created them is now merely a brain in a tank and Krank was an unfortunate mistake who doesn't dream. The only clone who was right is an enigma called the original who has long since escaped the insanity of this evil lair only to be living underwater and a kind of insane junk collector. One day strong man, One, and his little brother are ambushed by Krank's men and One's little brother is kidnapped. Thus far Krank's captives have proved unsuccessful in his quest for a cure, because they all suffer terrible nightmares, partly due to his own nastiness. All this latest young victim responds to is food, he seems to have no fear and it seems he could be the one, just as long as Krank keeps feeding him. One sets out on a quest to find his brother meeting Miete, a young a troublesome orphan girl in the process. It's all good fun this film and while the story is simplistic it's a kind of delightfully Grimm fairytale sort of story that keeps your interest.

The cast are great. Ron Perlman is one of those cult actors who everyone seems to like and he has hit it big with the recent success Hellboy. He is a strong presence and unlike many musclemen of his stature he can act, something which has held him back somewhat because people have never really cast him as a leading action man, although in truth he's not blessed with good looks. The interestingly named Rufus, a Juenet stalwart is also very good as the clones, while Daniel Emilfork is excellent as Crank. Also good and a charming innocence is Judith Vittet as Miette.

Anyone who loves a visually stunning movie should watch this film it looks amazing. The sets, the impressionistic and exaggerated designs are brilliant. It is typically French in it's verve. This is a fantasy fans wet dream, believe me! ****

Great Movie

[lucianomarzo92 · 7/10 · 3 August 2011]

This is really one of the best movies I have ever seen, and it is one of my personal favorites. Its imaginative and powerful premise is brought to life by a creative story, excellent acting, skilled direction, innovative special effects, dreamy visuals, and a surreal atmosphere. The City of Lost Children also has a gloomy and chilling soundtrack that suits the movie perfectly. The movie takes place in a corrupt, dismal town filled with orphans, villains, and miscreants.

Most of the adults are portrayed as evil, while the kids are the heroes. However, there is one good adult, who befriends the orphans. His brother is one of the many kids to have been kidnapped by the mad scientist named Krane. The scientist is incapable of dreaming, and makes a machine that connects his head to the heads of children. He uses this contraption to haunt the kids' dreams because he cannot dream on his own. He believes his lack of dreams is causing him to age prematurely. But the kids are stuck on the "island" that is his laboratory.

That is a simplified, condensed summary of the movie. It is sometimes hard to follow, though, because of its intricate plot. Many critics have praised its originality, though some have complained that many of its fascinating concepts are not fully developed, or explained. They seem to think that the movie needed to be longer to offer a full explanation. While this argument does have merit, I believe that the movie would have lost momentum, had it been longer. The City of Lost Children is not perfect, but it is a rich and vivid fantasy that is otherworldly, evocative, and moving.

It is not for everybody, though; some will be turned off by its nightmarish mood and complex narrative; however, that does not change the fact that it is an engaging and refreshing film in that it is totally original. The City of Lost Children showcases enormous talent and ability, in so many areas: story, direction, characterization, visuals, music, and acting are all top-notch. It is certainly one of the most original movies of the decade, and one of the most imaginative and compelling films I have ever seen.

Wonderfully Bizarre

[Mike Z-2 · 10/10 · 8 November 2001]

Written for English class my freshman year in high school.

Lights! Camera! Action! What makes a good movie? Better yet, what makes a great movie? In my opinion, a great movie should include almost flawless acting, a finely woven and gripping plot, music that is both beautiful and suitable, and great direction. Of course, mesmerizing visuals and art direction can also contribute to great films. So, for all the reasons above, I consider "The City Of Lost Children" the best film of 1996.

The plot of "The City Of Lost Children" is completely original and it never lets your mind wander off to other places. It also involves quite a few fascinating and somewhat weird characters in a dreary harbor town called "The City Of Lost Children" (hence the title). One(that is his name) is a slow-minded circus strongman who searches for his adopted little brother who has been kidnapped by a group of henchmen with robotic eyes called the Cyclops. One's little brother has been kidnapped and taken to a quickly aging mad scientist named Krank so that his dreams may be stolen. The mad scientist needs the dreams of children so that he will not age so quickly. The source of this problem is a curse that was put upon him. Because of this curse, his wife is a midget, he cannot dream, and he has seven identical sons (all of whom have a strange sleeping disorder). In this movie there is somewhat of a subplot that involves a wicked pair of unseparated siamese twin sisters. These women run a sort of school where they have the children in it steal for them. One small, but tough, girl named Miette runs away from the school, finds One, and aides him in his search. When the two women find out about their little thief, they go to Marcello, a retired man who used to run a circus freakshow, to get what they need to catch and kill the little girl and her newfound friend. Although this plot seems a bit hard to follow, it all fits together perfectly in the end with wondrous results. To accompany this odd story, there is a beautiful soundtrack composed by Angelo Badalmenti with one song ("Who Will Take Your Dreams Away") by Marianne Faithful. This music fits the mood and plot of the story perfectly and stays with you(as does the movie itself) long after the credits have rolled.

The casting director of "The City Of Lost Children", Pierre-Jacques Benochou, sure knew what he was doing, because there is not one poor (or mediocre one, for that matter) performance in the whole film. In fact, I might just say all the performances were virtually flawless. Ron Perlman's performance as the slow and dimwitted circus strongman One is beautifully acted. Mr. Perlman should especially be recognized because he is an American actor and this is a subtitled French film. Daniel Emilfork as the depressed and dreamless mad scientist with a short temper is outstanding and most believable. Dominique Pinon is wonderful (perhaps the best actor in the whole movie) as the seven rubberfaced identical brothers (yes, he does play all of them, and with fantastic results, too). The two different actresses who portray the siamese twins, Odile Mallet and Genevieve Brunet, are perfectly wicked and their timing is impeccable. Last, but not least, the children, with Judith Vittet as Miette in a stand-out performance, all carry out their roles with smashing results.

Another reason for me choosing "The City Of Lost Children" as the best movie of 1996 is its stunning direction. This movie was directed by the famous French directing team of Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro(a.k.a. "Jeunet and Caro"). The camera angles that are used during the course of this film are a totally different experience and they keep you mesmerized from start to finish. The directors of this film are, in my opinion, masters of the camera. The visuals in this movie also contributed to my conclusion that this is the best movie of 1996. Whatever it might have been, whether the bleak and unique use of colors or the special effects, I was absolutely captivated by what I was seeing on the screen. What I particularly liked about this film's special effects was that they were not the typical flashy and in-your-face computer special effects that some of today's blockbusters and other genre films seem to have. I think such special effects distract you from the rest of the movie. On the contrary, the special effects of "The City Of Lost Children," however, are very subtle. A final thing I liked about this film were its sets. From the waterlogged streets of the dank and moldy town to the spectacular gadgetry of Krank's laboratories everything was a magnificent panorama for the eye to behold.

Was the plot great? Yes. How was the acting? Outstanding. Was the direction done well? Definitely. How did the visuals appear? They were beautifully presented. From what you have read, whether you have concluded to avoid this movie completely or go out and rent it right away (I do understand that this movie does have a select audience), I am hopeful that you understand the picture I am trying to paint. Even if the story will not appeal to you, it is still splendidly done. Overall, though, "The City Of Lost Children" is definitely the best movie of 1996 for me.

"When You're Born in the Gutter You End Up in the Port."

[mattstone137 · 6/10 · 16 March 2022]

It's tough to introduce Jean-Pierre Jeunet and his directing partner Marc Caro. The pair have made several films together, getting their start in feature length filmmaking with the post-apocalyptic dark comedy Delicatessen. They also worked together on Alien: Resurrection, and Jeunet would go on to direct Amelie as a solo venture. These films are visually surreal, pointedly odd, immaculately designed, and have the atmosphere and feeling of fairy tales. No film these men made, however, apart or together, can be compared to The City of Lost Children, a gorgeously realized, lightly disturbing, wide lens laden, and childishly imaginative film.

The film follows three sets of characters as they live their lives in a surreal, unnamed city. One, a strongman, searches for his kidnapped brother with Miette, an adorable girl who must contend with "the octopus" a pair of cruel and greedy sisters. Simultaneously, on an island off the coast, the scientist Krank kidnaps children so that he may dream again, and live forever. The stories cleverly intersect in a tale of trust, exploitation, familial relationships, and fleas.

The film is a Jeunet/Caro production through and through, punctuated with extreme wide angles, gnarly set design, idiosyncratic plotting, and a living world. The film takes place in a surreal space and effectively feels like a dream. There are touches of the absolutely absurd, especially in the character design and presentation.

"The Octopus" is a set of conjoined twins who move together fluidly, Krank is a pointed, eerily veiny and ill-tempered ghoul, played effectively by Daniel Emilfork, and there's even a set of clumsy but good-natured clones, given life by Dominque Pinon, a Jeunet/Carol regular. Every visual element could just as easily pop into your dreams as into your nightmares.

Few films with such striking and uniquely singular visuals can smoothly layer an equally engaging story to match. Jeunet and Caro don't quite pull it off, but they're damn close, and certainly more focused on their character's inner being than their visual contemporaries, like Terry Gilliam or Tim Burton. It helps that The City of Lost Children is really three stories in one; this allows for cutting between threads and keeps tension high between all three. Just when one thread runs its course for the moment, another can be picked up where it was left off. Despite the structure and excess of story here, the premise is still rather thin, and the film does drag before the climax, showing its hand early on and meandering into its final act.

Though story may be lacking at points, emotion rarely is, thanks to the capable performance of Ron Perlman and the superb performance of child actress Judith Vittet. One and Miette are bound together for much of the film, and develop a touching, soulful chemistry.

Vittet in particular shows a classical vulnerability, a tragic understanding that the world around her is bigger and harsher than she can handle alone. Miette is intelligent enough to push against the cruelty of The City, befriending One for utility at first, but growing closer to him as the danger moves in around them. The emotional core of the movie revolves around Vitett to great effect.

As impressive as the direction and performances are, the star of the film is the production/set design. There are plenty of quizzical and surreal pieces to marvel at, like a human brain submerged in a tank and periodically given Aspirin, steampunk helmets that enable their users to share dreams, a hopelessly claustrophobic shipyard, and two submarines crammed with scientific materials.

The city feels alive and buzzing, its citizens go about their dreary days in grounded detachment. A filmic world as bizarre and imaginative as this could easily feel nonsensical and "physics-less" but it doesn't. It feels grounded, it feels plausible. This is a refreshing contrast to current times, when hardly a soul appears beyond the frame of any given shot.

The City of Lost Children is a unique film, like everything made by the Jeunet/Caro tandem. It's very much in the shaggy, lumbering spirit of Terry Gilliam, but eschews his stuffy, British sensibilities and satire for a more dream-like quality. If Gilliam were French, this is the type of movie he'd be making. As for their greater oeuvre, nothing the filmmakers have done since has felt this dark and foreboding. As fantastical as the world is, it's a harsh world, an unkind and mostly uncaring world. Not even Alien: Resurrection had nihilism baked into its DNA this thoroughly, and The City of Lost Children is better for it.

The Lost City of Cinema-Gold!

[Coventry · 10/10 · 1 September 2006]

"The City of Lost Children" is unquestionably one of the most imaginative and exceptional films of the entire 90's decade and it pretty much represents an entire sub genre all by itself! It's a dark and often disturbing fairy-tale, but nevertheless magical and child-friendly. Since this is a film by Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, you simply know to expect a unique and surreal story (remember "Delicatessen"?) filled with extravagant characters and bizarre dreamscapes! It's enchanting to observe and quite challenging to follow, as there's always some ingenious gimmick to distract your attention from the main plot. I got hooked on it right from the GENIUS opening sequence in which a child's dream about Santa Claus slowly turns into an eerie nightmare. The action then cuts to the "main" character; the evil Krank who's unable to dream himself and hence kidnaps orphans in order to steal their dreams. Krank has an army of semi-human androids, one brother cloned six times, an uncanny midget-mother AND a malicious brain in a fish tank! Ron Perlman is a good guy for once! He portrays a simple-minded yet friendly strongman, assisted in the search for his abducted little brother by a witty young girl. "The City of Lost Children" is an amazingly energetic and vivid adventure and no self-respecting cinema fanatic can afford him/herself to miss it! It's funny, frightening, emotional and intelligent all at once. The decors are mesmerizing, the music is dazzling and the special effects are staggering. I can keep on mentioning good aspects, but it all comes down to one thing: watch this film!!! It's still regretfully underrated and we urgently need to change that!

These Guys!

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 22 May 2015]

A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

Ron Perlman is a great actor. He has an unusual look (not ugly, just different) and has used it to angle for some great roles in fantastic film. This one, of course, but also "Hellboy" and others. He is an unlikely success story, and good for him!

And these guys make such good films, with a beautiful cinematography and a blend of the surreal and the fantastic. And plenty of humor. Arguably, "Amelie" is their best, but this is great, and so is "Delicatessen". It would be hard to pick just one.

Disappointing, but for a different reason

[adampnsh5 · 2/10 · 10 January 2012]

I'm fine with movies that choose style over substance. I absolutely love Brazil, if that tells you anything. I was totally prepared to see a movie that had minimal plot and coherence, and was ready to simply immerse myself in the 'grotesque and disturbing imagery' as the rating touts. Another thing that intrigued me was the box art, which looked almost Aztec/Steampunkish. I thought that perhaps that type of imagery would dominate the film, or at least figure prominently in it. It did not. Instead the film mainly features imagery and sets from what appears to be the city from Alex Proyas's Dark City if it had been located on a French coastline in the 1940s.

But getting to the point, what ruined this movie for me was not that it was to unfocused and lacking in action. It was the filmmakers insistence that everything be so insufferably f*cking goofy. I felt like I was watching a bad rip off of a Terry Gilliam film, made by somebody who completely missed what made his style so great. First of all, this is a tame movie. Not that that is my reason for disliking it, I'd just like to set the record straight. The film's rating is absolutely undeserved. It easily could have been rated PG-13, and contained nothing too disturbing for a young teenager to stomach. And even then, any scene that even began to create a sense of foreboding atmosphere was immediately ravaged by unnecessary and painfully protracted scenes of people acting like mentally damaged infants.

Look, its not that I don't "get it". I understand what they were going for here, its just that they f*cked up (In my opinion). To put it simply, an otherwise chilling, absorbing film best described as Bioshock meets Brazil, is marred by disgustingly indulgent characters and camera-work by the filmmakers. For instance, the character of the mad man who kidnaps children to steal their dreams because he cannot have any of his own should be instantly tragic and threatening, a truly fantastic character simply by design. Any hopes of such a thing are tossed aside within the first few moments as he and the rest of his, what I suppose you could call family, scream directly into the camera for over a minute. Without any thought, they instantly reduce what should have been an incredible character with so much potential to a pathetic whimpering baby in the body of a man. They really seem to be TRYING to act stupid and over the top. Why? What's the point? There is no subtlety or really any care given to anything in the film, least of all that first pointless scene. It really seems as though that scene existed for the sole purpose of destroying the disturbing atmosphere that the film was trying to achieve right out of the starting gate.

In the end the film had so much potential, and so much style to work with, but it was wasted in favor of the film's oh-so-quirky antics. If this is French dark absurdist comedy, perhaps I'm just more suited to British dark absurdist comedy where the comedy goes hand in hand with the atmosphere rather than the former beating the latter into submission and sticking its @ss into the camera lens.

A Surrealistic, Dark and Bizarre Fairytale

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 5 August 2006]

In a surrealistic and bizarre society, children have been abducted by a mad and evil scientist, Krank (D. Emilfork), who wants to steal their dreams and stop and reverse his accelerated aging process. When the gang of Cyclops kidnap Denree (Joseph Lucien), the little brother of the former whale hunter One (Ron Perlman), he is helped by the young street orphan girl Miette (Judith Vittet), who steals for the Siamese Pieuvre (Geneviève Brunet & Odille Mallet), to reach the platform where Krank leaves with his cloned dwarf wife Mademoiselle Bismuth (Mireille Moissé), his six cloned sons (Dominique Pinon) and a brain, and rescue the children.

"La Cité des Enfants Perdus" is a mesmerizing movie, with one of the most beautiful cinematography and music score of the cinema history. This surrealistic, dark and bizarre fairytale is almost perfect, and my only restriction is the quite confused screenplay. When I saw this movie for the first time in 1995, I was impressed with the stunning performance of the young actress Judith Vittet and I expected that she would become a star, but eleven years later I have just read in IMDb that she quitted her promising career and now she is graduated in Economics Science. The soundtrack of Angelo Badalamenti is another wonderful work of this outstanding composer. I love the sequence that begins with the tear of Miette and ends with the ship hitting the harbor. I am also impressed with some sick twisted-minded persons that can see pedophilia in the beautiful relationship of One and Miette. I have this movie on VHS, but I have just bought the recently released DVD, and I do not regret, since this film deserves the better image and sound of the DVD. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Ladrão de Sonhos" ("Thief of Dreams")

A dark beautiful fairy tale

[john-1769 · 10/10 · 19 December 2004]

As in Amelie and Delicatessen, Jeunet is interested in the complex connections between things, even as small as a flea. The film is not so much about a story as it is about illustrating how the characters got where they are, often with a fast- paced sequence of events like a Rube Goldberg device. Open up your eyes and mind to the world that is created here, leave behind expectations of how it should function or how the plot should advance. You will be richly rewarded. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, true enough, but the true beauty lies in the characters and their lives; the children that are too grown up, the hero who is more a child than they are, the imperfect creations of science, and the improbable leftovers of a circus freak show.

Quiet! You vegetable!

[film-critic · 25 September 2004]

The City of Lost Children gets two platinum stars and also moves up to one of my top ten favorite films of all time. This is a confusing story, from beginning to end it expands your mind, reaches into your nightmares, and creates a story that is part Dark City and part of a novel called "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman.

Yes, this film was everything and more. Not only visually beautiful, but the creative and symbolic meaning of the actions and words of the characters are "jaw dropping". Also, there are so many sub-stories in this film that reminded me of the style that Run Lola Run was done. This is the style that due to a connection of unrelated events something extraordinary happens. Let me give you an example from this film: There is a scene where the girl and One (Ron Pearlman-also a very biblical name) are trying to escape from the two women who want their jewels. There are events that lead from a dog finding its female companion to a boat almost hitting/splitting the women in half. Wild coincidences...imagine this times ten, and you have this film.

Keep in mind this is a French film with English subtitles, so you are not only getting the true voice of the film, but seeing the darkness of the cinematography without any American input. This really shows the purpose behind making this film, it really takes you to a new place so dark and dreamlike that you the viewer actually feel like you are in the picture itself. A movie about dreams and nightmares that takes place in a world of dreams and nightmares.

Overall, a heavily religious and symbolic film, The City of Lost Children should be put at the top of your foreign film list. Put it in your DVD player, open your mind, and be ready for a wild and intense ride!!

Grade: ***** out of *****

"The poor masterpiece became so demented he thought a teardrop could save him."

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 11 April 2008]

Style over substance. 'The City of Lost Children (1995)' is one of the most visually-exciting films to emerge from the 1990s – constructing an elaborate fantasy world of the weird and wonderful – but, unfortunately, it often feels rather hollow and purposeless. French co-directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet were already well-known for their distinctive visual style, having previously achieved success with the post-apocalyptic black comedy 'Delicatessen (1991),' and this film, the last of their collaborations, only extends their fascination with blending surrealism and fantasy into a veritable feast for the eyes and the imagination. The story unfolds in a gloomy, greenish-tinted industrial world – closer to an alternative universe than any futuristic dystopia – and concerns, in a twisted, twenty-first century take on an age-old formula, a keen inventor who attempts to fashion his own family using bizarre scientific methods. Caro and Jeunet fill the screen with grotesque human figures, apparently delighting in the stark contrast created between the weathered, disfigured features of the adult characters, and the soft youthfulness of the large cast of child performers.

On an ominous oil-rig in the centre of a green, polluted ocean, an eccentric inventor (Dominique Pinon) has attempted to craft a family for himself, with ghastly results at every turn: his would-be wife is stunted and dwarfish, his "brain-in-a-tank" intellectual companion suffers constant migraines, the six clones "created in his own image" are clumsy and idiotic, and his supreme creation – "more intelligent then the most intelligent man on Earth" – is stricken with one disastrous flaw – the inability to dream. Depressed and tormented by his shortcomings, this masterpiece creation, Krank (Daniel Emilfork) – who was obviously inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Monster – rebels against his maker, tossing him into the ocean and presumably killing him. In order to stave off the aging process, Krank has taken to kidnapping children and attempting to experience their innocent dreams, those the torment of imprisonment results in little but horrible nightmares. When the "little brother" of a dim but kind-hearted strongman, One (American actor Ron Perlman), is kidnapped by a cult of sinister blind men in Krank's service, he strikes out in pursuit, willing to stop at nothing.

'The City of Lost Children' is part "Frankenstein," part "Oliver Twist" and part 'Labyrinth (1986),' a bewildering amalgamation of fantasy concepts, and an exceptional master-class in cinematography and set-design. Though there are a good share of brilliant storytelling moments – such as the elaborate sequence in which a single teardrop saves the lives of our principal characters – it never really comes together as a whole, and often the whole tale is so preposterous that you're not sure what exactly in going on. Daniel Emilfork, with his gaunt, pale face and empty eyes, makes for an excellent villain, though I preferred his character when the film didn't steep too deeply into tongue-in-cheek absurdity. Ron Perlman, the one actor you'd never cast in an elegant Shakespearian period-piece, is very much at home in the bizarre trappings of Caro and Jeunet's elaborately-twisted universe, and does very well considering he was the only American involved in the film's production. Of course, I think it's safe to say that young Judith Vittet steals the show, delivering an extraordinarily confident and heartfelt performance as a street urchin who finds, in One, a guardian and best friend.

Sublime fantasy masterpiece

[The_Void · 8/10 · 24 April 2005]

How can you not love this movie? From the amazingly talented team of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet comes this superbly original fantasy tale, that just oozes inventiveness and drags you into it's world, where it's all too easy to completely lose yourself. Caro and Jeunet were, of course, the good people behind the brilliant 'Delicatessen'. The City of Lost Children is kind of like Delicatessen mark 2. The style is still there in droves, except in this film it's much more abundant, and while Delicatessen had a base in reality, The City of Lost Children can easily be classified simply as 'pure' fantasy. The film is very French, and even if you didn't know where it's makers came from, you'd be able to guess. The French style is great anyway, and an excellent base to make a movie from, but when it's mixed with Jeunet's personal style, we've got a movie on our hands! That's exactly what this film is too; pure cinema. This is the sort of experience that I watch movies for, and so the film gets a huge thumbs up on that front.

The plot follows a man named Krank. Krank ages prematurely because he cannot dream, thus leading him to kidnap the local children and attempt to steal their dreams. However, as Krank is many a child's worst nightmare, that's exactly what he gets; nightmares, which just isn't good enough. The fun starts when Krank's men kidnap the brother of strongman Ron Perlman, who then sets out with a young orphan girl to find him. The two leads; Ron Perlman and Judith Vittet do a magnificent job of carrying the film, and their very different appearances and persona's blend well with one another. Judith Vittet really does steal the show all on her own, however, as her performance is far more mature than you would expect from an actress so young. It's a shame she only has four film credits to her name. It's not the actors that are the real stars of this film however, as the surrealistic style just steals every scene. You spend most of the movie simply admiring the lavish settings and absolutely sublime uses of CGI.

As mentioned, this is exactly the sort of production that cinema was invented for. The inventiveness on display is simply stunning and puts just about every other film in it's class to shame. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is one of today's finest filmmakers, and along with a select group of individuals is one of the few directors left that are still capable of a masterpiece. And that's exactly what this film is; a masterpiece.

Great visuals, weak story-telling

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 4 May 2022]

Wonderful steampunk visuals, with a lot of attention to detail and cool gadgetry, and I loved the casting, which featured so many striking, odd-shaped heads. The story-telling was tough for me though. It was confusing at times, and lagged at others. It didn't help that I watched this in pieces, going backwards to figure out what had happened before and then resuming, but at the end of day it's not a film I'd want to revisit. It needed as much effort on the narrative as it had on the visuals.

one of the most memorable movie experiences I've seen

[stazza · 8/10 · 27 February 2012]

Many disagree with the previous reviewer.

Not sure what the last reviewer watched, but City of lost Children is amazing cinema from the sets, color, acting, lighting, plot, it had everything pushed to the Nth from what I experienced.

It is NOT a typical American style movie. It is French and luckily, they are allowed to have an alternate path to interesting movie making.

This guy Jeunet puts a LOT into all of his productions. Almost a mentally overwhelming amount of style, info and actions (not action packed, but activities that go on in or behind the scene). He also did Amelie which is just as astounding and one of the best films ever made. Watch it start to finish if you don't believe that.

The City of Lost Childen extends its name sake across many peoples from the twisted characters that are adults and act like the children they never were, to the children who are lost from being children and must be adults. Not to mention the abductions and the reason for that.

So it is a win on many levels. One of the best, and I am so grateful I happened across this bazaar gem of a flick.

Wish more movies were as intricately entertaining as this art piece is.

"All the penguins, the centipedes, everyone applauds."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 18 June 2018]

Having previously viewed a film by directors Jeunet and Caro titled "Delicatessen", I thought I was prepared to see another one of their works. Similar to that movie, the story has a distinctively dystopian feel to it with strangely realized characters, and unless one pays attention, some of the visual weirdness may overwhelm one's focus on the story. It involves a rather mad scientist attempting to steal the dreams of young children, kidnapped and brought to his laboratory for that purpose, though their cooperation is negated when they only dream nightmares. Although I didn't have too much trouble following the story, it just felt confusing with all the surrealistic imagery the film had to offer. One of the kidnapped kids was the little brother of Ron Perlman's character, a mentally challenged circus strongman billed as Crusher Bones, though he and others referred to himself as 'One'. I'd point out some of the other strange characters in the film but to be quite honest, they were all strange and not very likeable, except for possibly the young girl named Miette (Judith Vittet) who turned out to be the nominal hero of the story with One's help. As for the deranged scientist Krank (Daniel Emilfork), someone got it correct when they described him by saying "This man's a proper nutcase".

I have found one at least (vhs)

[leplatypus · 10/10 · 13 October 2017]

this movie succeeds in the most difficult artistic field: inventing a world. Most of the times, when authors try it, we stumble always on Middle-earth... But here, it's really an original place, between Brazil and Peter Pan… This city looks like a foggy Montmartre at sea and the visual impact is wonderful: the cast has a jewel with the girl playing Miette: she acts like a pro while she is a kid. Maybe her friendship with this big dumb guy could be commented but this exploited kid as a thief and later dreams maker is thrilling and for sure, everything is sublimated by the wonderful sad, melancholic haunting score of Badalamenti as well as his song with Faithful! So it's a real masterwork of french imagination, worthy of Melies and sadly not praised enough in my country!

Weird and dark French/Spanish coproduction tells how a crazed inventor kidnaps children to take them their dreams and stop his premature ageing

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 12 July 2018]

Rare fairy tale not- far -the -kiddies finds nutty scientific named Krank, Daniel Emilfork , abducting children helped by his one-eyed minions , the Cyclops , so that he can steal their dreams because Krank himself is incapable of dreaming . The lastest victim is the tiny brother of a single-mindedly hunk called One , Ron Perlman , a fairground strongman who sets out in rescuing him . One was a former whale hunter who along with a little girl , Miette : Judith Vittet , pursue a way to to get his brother back . Meantime , they are pursued by the Cyclops , the deadly automatic flea , the mad deep-sea diver and the evil Octopus siamese sisters , conjoined at the leg . The insane scientist Krank lives at a sea platform along with a dwarf woman , six cloned descendants : Dominique Pinon and a brain .

This is a grotesque , gross, gruesome and overlong fantasy with nice moments here and there . Although far too long , though , for its content, an extremely fantastic flick from start to finish with some situations full of fascination and charm . Interpretations from the French cast are pretty good , but extremely rare ; as Daniel Emilfork as a mad doctor who abducts kiddies to harvest their dreams and hoping they slow his aging process . Pitted against him is One well played by Ron Perlman , Guillermo Del Toro's regular player , he was the only American actor on set ; Ron plays as a honest and simple bouncer , as strong as a horse . Other actors appearing and giving freak acting are the followings : Dominique Pinon, Jean Claude Dreyfuss, Mapi Galan , Jean Louis Trintignant , Ticky Holgado and Rufus .

This one results to be a strange , bizarre , surrealist and haunting film set in a dystopian society in which several fantastic incidents take place . This peculiar movie has freaks galore , avant-garde costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier , breakgrounding special effects in charge by Pitof , and state-of-art production design by Marc Caro , all of whose function seems chiefly to be as bizarre as possible .Exceptional photography by Darius Khondji , a prestigious cameraman with known titles as Seven, 9th door , The beach , Wimbledon , Funny Games , The immigrant , Z lost city . It contains a magic and mysterious musical score by Angelo Baladamenti , David Lynch's usual. This is a French/Spanish coproduction financed by notorious producers as Elias Querejeta , Maria Victoria Herrero , Jose Luis Lopez and Claudio Ossard . The motion picture was well directed by Marc Caro and Jean Pierre Junet , though hard to follow . Caro has directed a few shorts , documentary and films as Dante 01 , Delicatessen . While , the successful director Jean Pierre Jeunet has realized prestigious movies such as Delicatessen , Alien resurrection, A very long engagement and Amelie played by his fetish actress Audrey Tautou . Fantasy buffs may enjoy total or partially of this , others will struggle to understand the half of it . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

All shine and no substance

[augurar · 5/10 · 8 June 2011]

This movie is visually rich and fairly engaging, but some key element is missing to tie everything together.

The movie's narrative structure is fairly simple: Krank, the evil creation of an anonymous mad scientist, is kidnapping children to steal their dreams for himself. Krank's henchmen kidnap Denree, adopted younger brother of One, a slow-witted but good-hearted circus strongman. One bands together with pristine street urchin Miette to bring Denree back and defeat Krank in the process.

However, the plot, when examined more closely, is full of implausibilities and inconsistencies. Taken together, these plot holes comprise one of the film's major flaws: the whole universe seems to exist solely for the purpose of supporting the story. Sadly, this makes it seem very contrived and one-dimensional. For example, the "cyclops" people, who are seen as a formidable force at the beginning of the film, completely vanish from the story midway through. Miette's fellow orphans seem much more like a band of ragtag adventurers out of some Disney production than real street kids. The villainous conjoined twins are plenty villainous, but they don't seem to have any real motives, making them pretty bland, predictable antagonists. And so on.

Another issue I had with the movie was that a love of spectacle seemed to subsume a sense of balance and pacing. There were plenty of visually interesting moments, but they typically flashed past once and then vanished, never to be seen again. Examples include the carnival seen at the beginning of the film, the stronghold of the Cyclops-men, and the underwater home of the bearded inventor. Each of these settings suggested an interesting world in themselves, but the movie only paused in each location long enough to show us the most interesting visuals, then resumed its relentless march onward. This gave the movie a somewhat scattered feeling, as though it couldn't ever really commit to its setting.

Oddly enough, this rapid stream of visuals was accompanied by a rather slow-moving plot. There are basically three phases to the movie: the call to adventure, a series of advances and setbacks, and the final confrontation with Krank. Unfortunately, both the challenges the protagonists face and the corresponding resolutions of those challenges are caused by forces entirely beyond the characters' control. Everything is external to them -- they basically bumble through the plot without ever making significant choices. Thus, the monomyth is crippled, there is no fatal flaw that the hero must confront, and the "climax" feels weak and pointless. The characters undergo no changes over the course of the film. There is no real progress, just a lot of aimless wandering.

For all its shortcomings, the movie does have some good points. For the most part, the acting is good, with particularly strong performances from Judith Vittet as Miette and Ron Perelman as One. Jean-Claude Dreyfus also did a great job in his supporting role as Marcello. I didn't really care for Dominique Pinon as the unnamed creator ("The Original") and his assorted clones, but maybe that's just me -- I tend to find his exaggerated grimaces disagreeable rather than funny. As I mentioned earlier, the movie does a great job creating rich visual environments. It sort of reminds me of a concept painting for some post- apocalyptic video game - full of grimy textures, well-lit interiors with dim backgrounds, and highly saturated lighting. I actually saw this in a fairly low resolution on the internet, but the visuals still drew me in to the world of the story.

In conclusion, I'd say this film is worth watching for the interesting visuals – but don't expect much more than that.