You could be forgiven for watching Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, an animated film that feels like an Edward Scissorhands/Hugo mash-up with fairly big plotholes, and thinking something must have been lost in translation. Because if you’re watching it in English, something was. What you won’t be told – because the details wouldn’t mean much to a stateside audience – is that the movie is based on a rock concept album by French band Dionysos. As such, the story follows the songs, the songs don’t necessarily fill in the narrative gaps, and the characters are operatic archetypes rather than real characters making rational decisions. Knowing this goes a long way towards helping the viewer appreciate the film for what it is, rather than coming out disappointed for what it was never trying to be. French pop music has a reputation that’s roughly akin to the one enjoyed by French hygiene, but judging strictly from this soundtrack, Dionysos goes back and forth between generic rock and peppy, poppy ballads that serve the story a bit better.
The instrumental soundtrack, while utterly anachronistic, is jaunty stuff that keeps things flowing. But is it fair to judge by this soundtrack? Forcing the songs into English and making them rhyme is a bit of a contortionist’s act. Here’s the movie’s best song in French: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart music video by itsartmag Note the way it rhymes “coquette,” “lunettes,” and “tete.” In English, rather than rhyme the bigger words, we get “might,” “height,” and so on. There may also be cultural context missing – in the dubbed version, it sounds downright weird for a ten year-old boy to be telling a girl he wants to rip of her clothes with his teeth and tear them into confetti. That said, I presume the vocal beat-boxing by the villainous Joe is the same in both languages, and it is most amusing. Protagonist Jack is, like so many goth heroes, a boy too fragile for this world, born with a frozen heart that was replaced with a cuckoo clock, and ordered never to lose his temper or fall in love.
Of course he falls in love the first time he ever sees a girl, in the musical number above – the nearly blind Miss Acacia, an aspiring Flamenco dancer (it should be noted that she gets two songs in Spanish that play better than any of the dubs). Jack goes to school to learn about love, but is bullied by Miss Acacia’s ex, Joe, who’s like Edgar Allan Poe crossed with Edward Cullen. When the girl leaves for continental Europe (we have apparently been in Scotland this whole time, though it’s such a fantasized realm this barely matters), Jack follows her to the creepy, freak-filled circus where she makes her living. Along the way he is stalked by Jack the Ripper for no particular reason, and befriends cinema pioneer Georges Melies, who becomes a key ally. The train journeys are the best sequences, by far – the train carriages are connected by accordion folds and play music as they speed through landscapes that, Little Big Planet style, use CG animation to approximate cardboard and cloth cut-outs and pop-ups hanging by strings.
The addition of Melies as a character also allows for some gratuitous “old timey film” sequences, laden of course with references to the director’s actual works. The concept album problem only becomes a major issue once the plot seeks resolution. Jack and Miss Acacia are initially kept apart by the stupidest of contrivances (she doesn’t recognize him and he somehow can’t tell her), and once their love is expressed, she turns on him for the flimsiest of reasons. Giving the biggest benefit of the doubt, I’m assuming there simply wasn’t a song on the album that covered this part, or if there was, it had the broadest of strokes and lacked all specifics. Though the story’s incredibly vague ending has me thinking the last track on the album can’t have been much. Animation fans will find much to enjoy – the onscreen characters look like porcelain dolls, and the circus’ all-out departure from reality will make you wish such a place could exist. Those who nitpick at logic will find so many threads to pull apart that they’ll be as cold as Jack by the end – “dream logic” is in full effect here, more Graffiti Bridge than Purple Rain.
I’d like to see a band I’m already a fan of try something like this. Metallica: through the Never doesn’t quite count. Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart opens in limited theatrical release today; the Blu-ray due out Oct. 30th will supposedly include the French audio, but the DVD does not. "Fanboy Flick Pick" "Georges Melies" "Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart" "Movie Reviews"“The greatest animated romance since Tim Burton’s stop-motion masterpiece Corpse Bride” –James Verniere, Boston HeraldThis fall, step inside the imaginative story book world of the highly popular French novel La Mécanique du Cœur (The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart) and beguiled by the wildly inventive adventures of Jack and Miss Acacia as they leap from page to the screen. On October 7, 2014, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with EuropaCorp, is proud to present JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART on DVD, two-disc Blu-ray™ Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital) and Digital HD. The Blu-ray Combo Pack allows viewers to enjoy JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART on the platform of their choice and includes spectacular movie presentation on Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy of the movie.
This internationally acclaimed film can also be seen in select U.S theaters and on VOD September 24.A film directed by Mathias Malzieu and Stéphane Berla and produced by Virginie Besson-Silla, Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, the highly anticipated motion picture JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART is a visually opulent animated fairy tale set in an exciting period full of fabulous inventions, enchanting music and marvelous adventures. This superbly animated movie brings to life a unique tale of love and the acceptance of others through an awe-inspiring cinematic adventure filled with whimsical characters, stunning CG animation and unforgettable musical numbers.JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART is set in the late 19th century Edinburgh, where little Jack is born on a day so cold that his heart remains frozen. Madeleine the midwife saves his life by inserting a cuckoo clock in place of his defective heart. It will work, she warns him, as long as Jack observes three golden rules. First of all, he must never touch the hands of the clock.
Secondly, he must control his anger. And last, but certainly not least, he must never, ever fall in love. The moment Jack sets eyes on a young girl singing on a street corner, the hands of his clock-heart begin to race. Desperate to find her again, Jack launches himself into a romantic quest that will lead him from the lochs of Scotland, to the city of Paris and all the way to Andalusia.Adapted by Mathias Malzieu from his own bestselling novel and the gold-selling album by his band Dionysos, JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART features a English-language voice cast of Orlando Seale (Pride and Prejudice),Samantha Barks (Les Misérables ),Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow),Stéphane Cornicard (Saving Private Ryan) and Richard Ridings (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Who Framed Roger Rabbit).The French language version boasts an exceptional French voice cast of Mathias Malzieu, pop singer Olivia Ruiz, award-winning slam poet Grand Corps Malade, Jean Rochefort (Prêt-à-Porter, Ridicule),Rossy de Palma (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown),popular singer and musician Babet, Marie Vincent (La Horde),EmilyLoizeau (Il Était une Forêt),Dani (Avenue Montaigne),and singer-songwriter Arthur H (H-Man).
JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART Two-Disc Blu-ray™ Combo Pack contains the following special features:Movie presentation on Blu-ray, DVD and a Digital Copy of the filmCharacter Vignettes (in French with English subtitles)From Book to Screen Featurette (in French with English subtitles)Technical Information – BLU–RAY Combo PackStreet Date: October 7, 2014SRP: $24.97Running Time: 89 minutesAspect Ratio: Anamorphic WidescreenLanguage: English, FrenchSubtitles: EnglishSound: 5.1 Dolby DigitalRated: PG**English language track rated PG. French language track not rated.JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART DVD contains the following special features:Character Vignettes (in French with English subtitles)From Book to Screen Featurette (in French with English subtitles)Technical Information – BLU–RAY Combo PackStreet Date: October 7, 2014SRP: $16.97Running Time: 89 minutesAspect Ratio: Anamorphic WidescreenLanguage: English, FrenchSubtitles: EnglishSound: 5.1 Dolby DigitalRated: PG**English language track rated PG. French language track not rated.
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