Absolutely brilliant

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Napoleon III, Emperor of France, wants an army made up of fierce and invincible soldiers. Gruesome experiments involving vivisection have not yet produced the desired results. While His Majesty communicates his disappointment in a somewhat ungracious way, two animals (or at least animal-like creatures) escape from the laboratory. Nobody realizes that the two creatures are both clever and ambitious... "Avril" offers a Gallic take on the steampunk phenomenon, by giving us a tale set in a ficticious France which looks and feels somewhat like a badly mauled nineteenth-century France unceremoniously dumped in the year 2015. (I gather the technical term is a "uchronia".) There are all kinds of wonderfully strange landscapes, machines and vehicles, many of which look as if they were designed by Jules Verne on LSD. The movie bears the unmistakable stamp of Jacques Tardi, an illustrator and comic book artist of seminal importance. (If you've never heard of Tardi, run, don't walk to the nearest quality book shop.) The general message is anti-militaristic and anti-authoritarian, witness the many satirical barbs aimed at complacency, propaganda and agressively nationalist self-conceit. For instance, nearly every institution or building is called "Imperial", up to and including the "Imperial Toilets". There is a strong plea on behalf of animal rights, just as there is a strong plea on behalf of the protection of the environment and the preservation of forests.All of this sounds nice - and indeed, it IS nice - but the movie is not without its problems. It was unclear to me who or what is the intended audience : the tone, especially during the first half, is too dark and bleak for children, while adults are unlikely to be impressed by magic potions and talking cats. Moreover, "Avril" works best for an audience familiar with French history ; if you know bupkas about, say, the Second Empire, Napoleon III or the architectural evolution of Paris you might consider leaving the movie alone and spending your time in another way. It's a pity, mais c'est la vie...P.S. In case I was observed by a robot/rat hybrid laden with espionage equipment : I for one salute our lizard overlords !

'Avril et le monde truqué' or 'April and the extraordinary world' is a highly imaginative and charming film - an animated picture that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. The story is brilliant and unusually mature for an animated picture, but with the same entertainment value as any animated film aimed at kids.I enjoyed the characters a lot in this film, especially the talking cat. A minor character which brought so much to the overall enjoyment to the film. The animation itself is a lot more simplistic than most these days, but it sort of adds to the overall charm of the film. 'April and the extraordinary world' is a wonderfully imaginative animated adventure, definitely worth a watch.

2016 has really proved to be a great year for film. April and the Extraordinary World may not be on the level of some truly fantastic animated films (Kubo and the Two Strings, Tower, The Red Turtle, Zootopia) but it's still a very good film in its own right. The great thing about it is that it is not held back by having to only appeal to children and by not having to show anything that may be even remotely inappropriate for kids. It's a very classic action-adventure story, one where you could also see working in live action (although not exactly because many of the characters would not translate to live action as well). It is very well paced, very funny at times, and also genuinely heartfelt. That ending was also really effective, with the last scene really hitting on some great themes that the film had only previously alluded to. Definitely recommended.

Authors of this once were famous comic makers.There is a term in french culture for the graphic novels. They call it "Bande dessinées" which means "strip stories". This one is not. Or, to be exact, it's more of a stripped one.It's a rip-off. Cultural and visual. I could name hundreds of popular videogames, books and graphic novels, ideas from which were stolen to be placed into this. It's a commercial being in its entirety and has no other meaning than to be and stand for something. This one stands for someone else's naiveté.I had great expectations, but this, not being independent, put too much pressure onto its own makers.