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After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and generating tons of positive buzz, French director Sylvain Chomet's Triplets of Belleville will be making its way to the United States (sorry, Canada) just in time for Academy Awards consideration. Although a mighty big fish (Finding Nemo) is a major obstacle in Triplets of Belleville's potential path to finding the animated Oscar trophy, industry insiders are definitely high on the quality and originality of debut director Chomet's masterpiece.

The film will be presented in its native French with English subtitles, but the dialogue is actually fairly limited in the first place. The movie relies pretty heavily on music to drive the plot, particularly since the titular triplets are renowned music hall ladies who were famous in the 1930s.

Set in a fictionally-created France, The Triplets of Belleville centers around Champion, a lonely little boy who has been adopted by his grandmother, Madame Souza. She realizes very quickly that her young charge is happiest when he is on a bicycle, and puts him through some rigorous training so that he can competitive in races, with the ultimate goal being the Tour de France. Years pass, and Champion is indeed ready to enter that greatest of all bicycle races.

Things go quite awry when Champion is suddenly kidnapped in the midst of the contest by two mysterious men in black. Madame Souza and the faithful dog Bruno set out to save him, and on their journey they end up in the huge city of Belleville (a sort of hybrid of Montreal and New York City), where they meet the aforementioned triplets. These eccentric ladies take Madame Souza and Bruno under their wing as they try to rescue Champion.

So far, The Triplets of Belleville has already won the Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Copenhagen International Film Festival and is nominated for Best Foreign Film at the British Independent Film Awards. Look for the movie to receive a lot more attention as it released here in the U.S. and fans of quirky cinema have a chance to get to know the cast of unconventional characters. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

Vital statistics for The Triplets of Belleville Main Cast Michele Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, Monica Viegas Director Sylvain Chomet Screenwriter Sylvain Chomet Distributor Sony Pictures Classics Trailer Click Here for Trailer Official Site http://www.sonyclassics.com/triplets/ Rating PG-13 Running Time 78 minutes Screen Count 6 Awards Special Jury Prize, 2003 Copenhagen International Film Festival Awards page for The Triplets of Belleville Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture