Matricide rarely gets discussed in claymation form. I mean, sure, invariably that day comes in a person’s life when they have to discuss to a friend, priest, or assistant D.A. why they killed mom, but this discussion rarely takes the form of stop-motion animation. Did the producers understand that the primary use of animation is to attract the attention of children? Just because it can be used otherwise doesn’t mean it ought to be used otherwise. You present an animated world of children with big, round heads and bright red noses; you name your hero “Zucchini.” One might think this was a movie for, I dunno, children. Is that insane?
Aw, you kids today with your XBOX and your “YOLO” and your mom-killing; what’s it gonna be next? Inside-out pants?
No matter. Ma vie de Courgette is the short story of an orphan boy Icare (voice of Gaspard Schlatter) who prefers to go by “Courgette,” the French word for “Zucchini.” Need we explain where “Zucchini” came from or why the boy prefers it? Nyah, nyah. Information not available. Might have something to do with his mom. She’s a drunk and probably abusive. And when she scales the attic stairs to discipline the kid for making and then felling a pyramid of her empties, he slams the trap door on her head and she falls to her death. Oh, I cannot wait to hear French parents explain that one to their kids. I might just take up French if I got the opportunity.
Speaking of awkward explanations, when Courgette is dragged to the orphanage, he carries two things with him: a kite upon which he’s drawn his father as a superhero and an empty beer can to remember his mom by. Great lord of baguettes, how much of lush does one have to be that your orphaned son prefers to remember you by a beer can? No matter. Look, if I go into the orphanage, I’m pretty much telling you the whole story; this film is only seventy minutes long – and it’s not a swiftly moving seventy at that.
Ma vie de Courgette is about a 
child finding himself – in friendship, in society, in the location where he belongs. This is a film for any who have ever felt alone, helpless, isolated and one can see how it’s developed a fierce following despite an adult tone and questionable animation. Courgette’s pale off-white face is accented by blue hair and blue circles around his eyes making the nine-year-old look terribly sad and aged well beyond his years. I’m sure this is no accident, yet I can’t say I was a fan of the animation. Maybe I was too hard on Boxtrolls. I respect this film for message, but the cinematography and the adult nature for what should have been a family movie make Courgette almost impossible to recommend.
Films I would happily have promoted ahead of Ma vie de Courgette for the Animation Oscar:
Storks
The Little Prince
Trolls
Sausage Party
The Secret Life of Pets
Angry Birds
Kung Fu Panda 3
Go ahead and love this film if you need to, but I didn’t think Courgette rated top 10 among animated films of 2016.
The orphanage accepts a new greenie
Who ends up the pray of a meany
Not sure whom to blame
Let’s start with the name
He’s more “Turnip” than any “Zucchini”
Rated PG-13, 70 Minutes
D: Claude Barras
W: Céline Sciamma and Germano Zullo and Claude and Morgan Navarro
Genre: Orphans across the English Channel
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The soft hearted
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: People who think animation of children should be for children
