Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
It's 1941, but France is trapped in the 19th Century, governed by steam and Napoleon V. Avril, a teenage girl, goes in search of her missing scientist parents.
April and the Extraordinary World is a visually inventive steampunk alternate-history animated film with a richly conceived world where scientific progress stalled and France remains coal-powered under Napoleon V. The plot is intricate and imaginative, weaving family drama, conspiracy, and science fiction together with real confidence. The animation style, evoking the ligne claire tradition of Hergé and Jacques Tardi (whose source material this is), gives the film a completely distinctive visual identity — detailed, atmospheric, and unlike most contemporary animation. Novelty is genuinely high: the alternate-history premise is executed with specificity and wit, and the film feels singular among animated features of its era. The ending is satisfying but slightly rushed and overly tidy given the complexity built up. Voice acting is solid and characterful without being remarkable. A hidden gem of European animation.