Avril et le Monde Truqué (Christian Desmares & Franck Ekinci, 2015)

April and the Extraordinary World takes its cue from the copious and varied French comic book/graphic novel culture, in which science fiction is a large component. The genre has not had a great history of translating successfully to the big screen, as evidenced by the recent Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but the decision here to stick to animation rather than live action proves a judicious one, allowing a cavalcade of sumptuous backdrops of a sooty steampunk Paris.
The scenario begins with an interesting premise; a 1940s still stuck with coal and steam instead of oil and electricity, as well as perpetual war between a repressive imperial France and the United States, and follows its set-up through quite conscientiously with abundant incidental detail. Less interesting is the adventure plot, with a plucky young heroine seeking her parents and a solution to her grandfather's great and secret experiment, accompanied by her talking cat. It all goes completely bonkers along the way, but at least it stays well away from cuteness; one can only imagine how unwatchable an end product would have resulted if this outline had been handed over to an anime studio.

6/10