Triplets of Belleville (Score)

Taking the cue for its visual conception from sources as diverse as British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and the antic, rubbery surrealism of Tex Avery's Warner Bros. Cartoons of the 30's, this madcap caper from French writer/director Sylvain Chomet is one of the most delightfully skewed animated films in recent memory. Scoring such a thorough original is no easy task, but composer/musician Benoit Charest has more than risen to the occasion. Charest manages to evoke the loopy musical spirit of legendary Warner and Disney animation legend Carl Stalling in an entirely new context, fusing the score's snappy, predominantly le hot jazz mindset with everything from hip-hop and Bach (credited her as "Jean Sebastien") to the Italian opera farrago "Cieco Cieco Barber" and 1960s proto-surf-rock of "Pa Pa Pa Palavas." But that conceptual stew isn't the least of Charest's delightful surprises, as he giddily infuses it with his own Django-esque guitar stylings and a hodge-podge of "found" rhythmic instruments that include bicycle wheels, refrigerator shelves and a vacuum cleaner; surely there must be a kitchen sink buried in the mix somewhere. The result is a score that uses tradition as but a launching pad for one of the most rewarding and delightfully original animated scores in recent memory. -- Jerry McCulley