The City of Lost Children (1995)

Stars	User	Rating
6	Spunkie	92 _99th
I don't know if it is appropriate to call T.C.O.L.C. surreal. It is more of an extrapolated fable lost inside industrialism. Jeunet&Caro alamet-i farika laying the eggs for the last time together. Beauty of ugliness.
4	BattleToad	95 _97th
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has a wonderful ability to make films original, humorous, and most of all, emotionally engaging. The City of Lost Children is a terrific and artistic work with dozens of unique characters, all of which are very well acted. The film evokes such an array of emotions and thoughts that it simply must not be overlooked. Awesome!
3	Stripy	92 _94th
Jeunet and Caro create another grotesque, dark and cruel world, where love is hard to be found. Outstanding acting, great photography, superb soundtrack. And above it all, an amazing story about people(some good, some bad), searching happiness - may that for them be love, power and money or 'just' dreams.
2	doctor7	83 _79th
Very interesting film indeed. Great camera work and expressive set design combined with over the top acting compliment the story very well making for a fantastic film. Ron Perlman is especially impressive as he doesn't speak any french!
2	frederic_g54	8 _77th
If Jeunet and Guillermo del Toro decide to make a film together, I'll be the 1st in line to see it. I'm not gonna debate the negative aspects of this film (not that many in the end), this film is very special and doesn't deserve any bashing. Ron Perlman did a great job, but it's really Judith Vittet who plays Miette that outshines everyone. The story is dark and weird but also funny and sweet. I'd love to see more films like this, sparkling with originality and ideas...
2	Mentaculus	68 _48th
Really, really hard to describe, let alone digest. There are great ideas lurking in here, but it may just be too goofy to be taken on its merits. A child's fairytale nightmare on Red Bull.
2	JMBosch	88 _86th
Whimsical and delightful... as well as creepy. Some great SFX for the time, and the setting is wonderful. Besides, a Jeunet & Caro-fueled Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman in the same film? I'm sold.
2	SirStuckey	90 _94th
I love the fact that if I ever think that I'll never see another original movie idea, I can just watch a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film and see something I've never seen before. He's like some amazing combination of Tim Burton, Wes Anderson, and Terry Gilliam only the actors are all speaking French.This movie is awesome and anyone who believes movies are an art should watch it and every other movie he has directed and feel smug about their cinematic ideologies.
2	Rufam	75 _72nd
A visually imaginative and detailed film if there ever was one. Jeunet's mise en scène is something to drop your jaws at, as is the film's carefully built texture, its twisted settings and outlandish characters. And despite the filmmakers' best efforts to add emotional context (it's a film where a lot of kids stare around looking cute, after all) this is a picture so absorbed in its own (creepy, wondrous) world I found myself shut off half of the times. It's a marvel but it can be alienating.
2	Paxton	86 _95th
Of all the dream movies I've seen, this is the most dream like. And every movie is improved with the addition of Dominique Pinon. This movies got seven of him.
2	backwardsuit	77 _72nd
Enchanting & naively nightmarish fairytale. Some neat ideas that mostly come through in the wonderfully creative visuals. Great dreamy atmosphere but uneven with narrative style & substance. There's definitely some genius in this but it comes across as whimsical & lacks the emotional attachment it needs to make satisfactory sense. Jeunet & Caro are brilliant artists but not quite up there with Gilliam & del Toro as storytellers. Gorgeous Badalamenti score almost made up for the clumsy narrative.
1	willofgaia	80 _43rd
Visually stunning, but very rarely has something going on beyond that
1	Kojiless	92 _95th
I shudder to imagine the amount of drugs used by the staff in creating this film.
1	HalfJapanese	90 _90th
Fantastic, escapist and hypnotic, it's a much more interesting film than Delicatessen was plot-wise.
1	Skenkere	77 _78th
Jeunet puts forth a really good fantasy/fairy tale-ish movie that's unarguably unique.
1	caiman	84 _75th
This is a movie that when I tell people about it, I say, "If you tend to like movies on a purely visual level, you'll LOVE this one." And it's true. Though the story is only mediocre to decent, it's the quirky visual style that puts City of the Lost Children above and beyond the rest. It's so bizarre and interesting that I can't help but love it.
1	nilkynarfy	85 _86th
You should absolutely believe the hype, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did Delicatessen, though it's still a very impressive film. It scooches just a bit over my tolerated level of cinematic excess limit, but only just a bit.
1	Anomaly	80 _75th
Wonderfully inventive and whimsical. Relies a bit too much on contrivance to be truly spectacular, but the humor, design and visuals are a real treat.
1	prowler	72 _72nd
Fucking gorgeous. The steampunk design and colourful cinematography in this are some of the most original and insane/beautiful you'll ever see. The film feels like an adventure game, a la The Longest Journey or Syberia - unsurprisingly, it was adapted into a game. A hell of a ride.
1	andayb	75 _86th
jenuet and caro's unique vision is extraordinary. it's quite outside the mainstream of its age, very avangarde even comparing it to the likes of tim burton. the attention to detail in set design, photography and the general atmosphere is excellent. the real stars of the show are the incredible cast, a veritable freak show coming together for this dark fairy tale. one of a kind experience.
1	hehejaja	70 _57th
A mysterious and elegant painting of a strange, dark and scabby world. The sticky atmosphere created is seductive, the various distinctive characters fascinating, and the ongoing sentimentality delightful. While it may not manage to attain a profoundly moving and throught-provoking climax, the film is filled with fascinating images, as well as ideas.
1	Obdurate	85 _80th
It's um... interesting. It's definitely completely out there and that makes it fascinating. The set designs are astounding and there are some fantastic ideas in there but like some others have said... it's quite goofy. It's nice to see a movie with such good ideas not taking itself completely seriously and I like ridiculous things, but sometimes it goes too far and you can't get the connection you need. But you need to see it because it's totally original and beautiful.
1	Bmunise	95 _80th
My third Jeunet and by no means an average one. The designers really pulled all the punches here and the acting is everything you'd expect of a Jeunet film. Dominique Pinon is given quite a bit of screen time and he's a joy in every second of it. I'm not sure how this compares to Amelie, but I don't think it quite edges out Micmacs.
1	FrederikA	100 _99th
Jawdroppingly beautiful and deliciously dark. In my opinion it's the pinnacle of lyrical moviemaking.
1	DavidBlast	60 _54th
Whilst being amongst the most visually inventive and beautiful films in cinema, the overall feel is that of it's plot: You're witnessing the nightmare of a child. The result is a quirky, moody and largely uncomfortable film. It is a film d'art, and an absolute must-see for any cinephile, but that doesn't mean you're going to like it.
1	hellboy76	74 _90th
Really compelling visuals. I wasn't always sure what was happening but it was definitely happening with style.
1	Jimmy Suede	85 _85th
I literally did not know what to expect with this film. I didn't even realize beforehand it was French, with Ron Perlman starring and a (seemingly) Native American on the cover. What a pleasant surprise; this movie is a visual treat. I enjoyed the odd steam-punk fairy-tale of a story, even if it didn't sink very deep for me.
1	favery	20 _1st
Bioshock 2: The Movie but the plot's even more convoluted and the Big Daddy's a useless babbling crybaby that speaks French like a Spanish cow.

Average Percentile 63.26% from 3149 Ratings