Mia et le Migou

[pro-bassoonist]

FTD are set to release Jacques-Rémy Girerd's Mia et le Migou (2008) on June 24th in Gallic territories.

Cinestrata:

The staple film at this year’s children’s film festival (playing numerous times daily from 9am to 5pm) is the animated Mia et le migou. It is directed by Jacques-Rémy Girerd and based on a series of books under the popular French label J’aime lire. The film itself is a straightforward and harmless adventure story backgrounded by a theme common in kids fare: the conflict between expanding urban construction and the environment. Those familiar with animated films could best describe the film as a toned down Princess Mononoke on a much less epic scale.

The story is simple. A group of construction workers mine deep in the earth for the construction of a new holiday hotel in the middle of untouched nature (it looks not unlike the many gaudy constructions we have come to see sprouting up in cities like Dubai). Suddenly, the earth seems to rumble and one of the construction workers is trapped underground. Miles away, the man’s daughter, Mia, seems to feel his plight and embarks on an adventure to save him. At the same time, the man behind the construction (slicked-back black hair, fancy white suit and a devil’s grin) journeys with his financial backers to sell the project. Obviously, when the parallel stories come together is the climax of this classic tale of nature vs. humans. With a little help (sort of) from giant forest-dwellers called Migou, Mia aims to save her father as well as the forest.

Kids will enjoy this film. While it pales in comparison to Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, this last can hardly be considered a film for children - what with the scary monsters, blood, swearing, etc. For older audiences, this makes Mia et le migou a somewhat ho-hum affair. Somehow even that infamous Japanese mysticism of Miyazaki’s films seemed to translate into Girerd’s Mia, who travels around with lucky charms from her village. Where Mia et le migou stands out from drawing too many comparisons to Princess Mononoke is in its animation style.

As witnessed by the images on this page, the film uses bright strong watercolours and pastels. In a way, some of the scenes in this film are more beautiful than in Miyazaki’s because of this artistic choice. Objects and characters up close are more detailed, while objects further away are less and less. The effect is one that not only adequately differentiates distances, but leaves an artistic impression that seems more naturalistic than the sharp lines of Japanese animation. Much effort was put into making Mia et le migou into a visually appealing experience. On top of the pastel/watercolour work, all vehicles and technology appear to have been animated with CG, making them look sharper and slightly out of place in nature (which they are).

Mia et le migou is the perfect film to bring along the children. At 90 minutes, it is short enough for those short attention spans, and has enough action and intrigue to keep the young ones engaged. For an older audience, the art, music and classic simplicity of the storyline should allay any fears of the old eyes drooping. I may not suggest this to older audiences going out alone, unless you are a diehard animation fan.

Pro-B