Thoughts on April and the Extraordinary World (Avril et le monde truqué)

   April and the Extraordinary World (French: Avril et le monde truqué) is an adventure cartoon which has some science fiction and steam punk element. It was produced by the same production team as Persepolis, an autobiopic about the life a Iranian-French artist Marjane Satrapi.

   The film was set in a 'what-if' scenario in the following two conditions: 1) oil was never discovered; and 2) the brilliant physicists in the last half of 19th century were abducted. The story was set in the 1940's and Paris was filled with soots that were released because of coal burning in the cities. Arvil, the protagonist, was a teenager and the only child of scientist family linage.

    Avril's parents invented a serum that could give eternity to all kind of lives, as a result, the authoritarian and oppressive regime of Napoleon V, was after them so he could become the king forever. Avril lived in a solitary after her parents were apparently electrocuted by a strange cloud. A talking cat, Darwin, was her only friend.

    The adventure story began there and the story was a fair pace. I liked the imagination of the author of the original comic, Jacques Tardi. I am not going to spoil more on the movie so I'll stop here. Here is the trailer: