Petrisson TeoMovie Review: Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart begins on the coldest day of the year in Edinburgh. Jack (Orlando Seale) is born but soon after, his heart freezes and stops beating. The midwife (Barbara Scaff) replaces his frozen heart with a cuckoo clock, miraculously saving his life.
Jack lives, but is bound forever to obey the following 3 rules in order to stay alive. Firstly, he must never touch his heart-clock’s hands. Secondly, he must never get angry. Lastly, he must never fall in love.
And you know what happens next.
Jack falls in love with flamenco singer Miss Acacia (Samantha Barks) on his 10th birthday. Here, the audience watches Jack’s relentless attempts at gaining her affection that span years and countries from Edinburg to London, trains to skateboards, and eventually to Andalusia, where his courtship begins in earnest.
Producer Luc Besson is known for his madcap style of bold ideas, and this film is of no exception. In a particular scene, we see the inventions and brilliance of George Méliès and in another, Jack the Ripper appears to intone a sinister musical number before vanishing into the night. Such sudden appearances add to the wild and unpredictable style of the film, a true testament to the style of Besson.
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is based on the concept album La Méchanique du Coeur by French rock band Dionysos. The lead singer is also director Mathias Malzieu, who also composed a novel of the similar name.
A rich visual style further accentuates the wacky feel of the movie. The characters are clearly inspired by Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride, possessing many similar elements such as out-sized hairdos, wide-eyed faces and skinny stick limbs. This leads to many exaggerated and larger-than-life movements.
In addition to the character design, the animation is also one of a kind. The traditional CG style is perfectly executed, resulting in the conventional realism found in many of the best animated films. However, several scenes are unique where the animation looks less computer generated but resembles more stop-motion of cut and folded paper. This is very similar to the award-winning movie Coraline, and is used to great effect here.
Such chaos and shenanigans are beautifully spun around the central tale of young Jack finding love. The audience gets to relive their own memorable ‘firsts’, as they watch the slow but romantic courtship between the 2 leads.
Rating: 3/5
Photographs courtesy of MVP Pictures
Information:
Jack and the Cuckoo Clock
MVP Pictures
Cast: Mathias Malzieu, Olivia Riuz, Jean Rochefort
Directors: Mathias Malzieu, Stéphane Berla
Runtime: 94 minutes