Neddy Merrill Belle and Sebastian may also be the name of a band or an appliance brand but this review deals with the recent French film by that name. In it, a boy and his fluffy white dog save Jewish refugees from the Nazi occupation of France by leading them over the French Alps into Switzerland. Why don't the soldiers just follow them into unarmed Switzerland and take back the escapees is a good question for your history teacher. Beyond the honoring of true-life heroic acts taken by the French resistance, the movie is also an excuse to film some stunning visuals in the boy's largely vertical world. Within this world some sad and sophisticated things happen (including a least 2 double-crosses) so clearly this isn't an American children's picture. Some sad stuff happens as well but not as much as you expect for a French film. The acting is overwrought at times but generally very good - the dog is excellent. In short, worth taking your older children to and having them learn something.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Belle et Sébastien" takes place during World War 2 in France and aside from all the war references we see how a little boy forms an unlikely bond with a feral dog. And this dog is easily the highlight of the movie. Quite a beautiful creature and it was great to watch it from start to finish. The film starts in a heartbreaking manner already with a small animal that lost its parents and gets you right in the mood for everything that is about to come. For me, the whole film was about the animals, especially the dog. The subplots with the doctor, the young woman, the grandfather etc. did not really touch me on an emotional level, just like the whole story about getting to the USA.The part with the wild wolves was nicely done too. It was sort of expected that they are the ones responsible for the killing and honestly I wonder a bit why they use the "bête" as the scapegoat if they know there's wild wolves around. Anyway, another highlight for em was the first meeting between the boy and the dog, where the dog still gives off an air of danger and yet you could already feel their connection. The most intense scene is possibly where the dog is injured and needs the injection to survive. Edge-of-seat stuff.This is obviously a movie mostly aimed at younger audiences, so including all the World War background and Nazi references is a daring challenge, but the makers did a fine job as parents should not be worried to watch this movie with their children. I believe most of the younger audiences will not even remotely understand the historic aspect of chasing and deporting Jews and just enjoy watching Belle. And it is not just the dog: There is also ibexes, wolves, goats, eagles and many other wild animals from that mountainous area. I would say this film makes a truly great watch and is almost a must-see for dog owners. The scenery is absolutely stunning and I liked the film's message against hunting. Apart from this moral, the film also depicts the danger of rumors, especially if those who are the victims cannot defend themselves for whatever reason, no matter if human or animal. This way a complete legend was started about an actually peaceful dog (that only attacks when being attacked) being a savage monster.The one thing I did not like that much was how the boy was left alone with the dog in the end, not because the dog could pose any kind of danger, but because it was still a little boy somewhere in the mountains. Felt a bit odd to me. However, as I really enjoyed this movie, I want to end it on a positive note: The music, as in most French films these days, was very good once again. I definitely recommend seeing this one.

Likes_Ninjas90 Light as a feather and soft as snow, Belle and Sebastian has high production values and attractive shooting locations but it is as forgettable as a made for television special. Set in the French Alps and filmed on real mountains, the only positive attribute of the film are its aesthetic achievements. At the beginning of the film the wide angle shots and open spaces frame a beautiful but ominous cliff face. The director of these shots is Nicolas Vanier who is described as a French "adventurist" and last made Loup in 2009, which was about the Serbian mountain ranges and raising herds of reindeer. Evidently, from his filmography, the subject of this feature, and its emphasis on animals, Vanier loves the wild and nature. Yet there isn't a clear audience for whom he is aiming the film towards. The film is too lightweight for adults and it wouldn't be edgy enough children. The film seems oblivious to how increasingly sophisticated children today are and how desensitized they are to darker material. Films from major mainstream American studios like Pixar have challenged the notion that children's films have to be less intelligent or simplified, while a film like this retreats to warm pleasantries as a means of shadowing its lack of sophistication. The film's archaic form and its wholesomeness can be attributed to the source material which belongs to another era. Vanier is working from French actress Cecile Aubrey children's novel, about a boy and his Pyrenean Mountain Dog and their adventures together. Aubrey adapted her own story into a 1960's television show, which over its thirteen episodes earned a sizeable following and gained universal cultural resonance. A Japanese anime adaptation was developed in the 1980s. Similarly, in France this was the second highest grossing film from last year. It has earned over $33 million dollars globally. Audiences may have responded to Vanier's attempts to reshape the original material. One of the major changes to the film is setting it in WWII. The historical alteration is meant to add tension to the story and to offset the sentimentality of the premise. The imbalance is still jarring because the film preferences its cornball narrative, the friendship between a boy and his dog, while sidelining the far more interesting story of people daringly escaping to Switzerland. We must ask why a narrative that is tedious and schmaltzy conceals and soft-pedals the more serious and important historical component, if only for the sake of being box-office foolproof. Further reiterating the film's old fashioned nature is the simplicity of the plot. Sebastian (Felix Bossuet) has no family, he thinks his mother is in America, and is looked after by Cesar (Tcheky Karyo), a drunken caretaker. Cesar and his friends believe an animal they call the "beast" is dangerous and killing the wildlife. They set traps for the animal and try to hunt it down. Sebastian discovers that, surprise, the beast is a misunderstood dog and after a wash he names him Belle and hides him from Cesar. The film's subplot involves helping people across the mountains to escape to Switzerland and avoid the capture of the Nazis. The generic story recycles tired beats and messages about coming of age, overcoming our fears and loving our enemies. It is an indistinguishable companion to DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon, such is the familiarity of the narrative and how stock standard and unsurprising the characters are. Even the threat of the Third Reich brings little menace. Some might faintly praise the film for its gentility, compared to mainstream entertainment, which does little to excuse some laughably corny scenes like Belle running in slow-motion while a children's song is played over the soundtrack. What has happened to the French cinema of the past, where tough films with something to say were made, compared to the post- Amelie period of light, mass appealing crowd-pleasers? And since when does France adopt the lazy Hollywood model of refurnishing old, safe ideas, rather than challenging us with daring new ones?

Quebec_Dragon A review of this film by a guy actually named Sébastien because her mother liked the 60's TV series so much, what a concept! So this film is based on a children's novel by Cécile Aubry telling the story of a friendship between a young boy called Sébastien and a big white dog named Belle living in a small French village in the mountains in 1943. Before watching the film, I was only familiar with the anime version of the 80's that I loved, so I cannot evaluate how faithful it is to the original novel. My impression and Wikipedia tell me that a few creative freedoms were taken. So, we hear about a "beast" in the mountains killing sheep. Sébastien lives with his grandfather César and spends most of his time outdoors. It's revealed quite soon that the "beast" in question is actually a big dog that was beaten up by his former master, fled and became wild. Not that wild since Sébastien discovers the dog and quickly befriends her in secret, although the dog is still hunted and in constant danger of being killed by the villagers. Sébastien eventually names her "Belle" because once cleaned up, she's so beautiful. Of course, there's also a play on the Beauty and the Beast theme, la Belle et la Bête, that Sébastien probably never read. Not initially related but eventually becoming important, is that France is occupied by the Germans, and there's a clandestine operation by the French passing Jew refugees over the mountains to reach another country. There are regular visits by the Germans in the nearby village and they want to stop this.So, I found the movie rather peaceful and relaxing with beautiful mountainous landscapes. Contrary to what another review says, there is a story and even a few mysteries such as what happened to Sébastien's mother, who's helping the Jews and the true motivations of a few characters. I loved Belle, she was expressive and she looked like I what I envisioned she should in real life. I didn't like the actor Sébastien so much. Yes, he's cute, but a few times, there was a little something off in the way he played. It didn't seem all natural for lack of better explanation. The relationship between him and Belle was mostly fine, but there was some chemistry missing. I sometimes felt some kind of "disconnect" between him and her. The other adult actors were adequate, except for the doctor that I found bland, and the German lieutenant that I found more interesting than the rest. In fact, I liked how ambiguously he was portrayed.The animal sequences didn't particularly impress me, as it sometimes felt as if they were filmed separately, although they were real animals. Scenes of danger, especially the last one, felt a bit awkwardly filmed. At one point, there was a song sung by Sébastien in the background that I found very corny, but it might be my cynical adult side complaining. The couple of other songs sung by an adult woman fared better, but I would have preferred just poignant music instead. I don't really remember the soundtrack otherwise. I wish I would have been moved emotionally by the film, but I wasn't really, although I found a few sequences charming. So maybe it's nostalgia for the old cartoon talking, but for me, this adaptation, although competent enough, seemed to lack a certain magic. I'd recommend it for big dog lovers. As an aside, my girlfriend, not familiar with the story, liked the film much better than I did.Rating: 6 out of 10 (good)