"CITY OF LOST CHILDREN" (1995) - (Grim, Grim, Fairy Tale Video Risk) The talented co-directors of the equally disturbing "Delicatessen," Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, deliver a visually striking, but thematically muddled film that wants to be about something but leaves me wondering what that is. This French-Spanish-German fantasy is worth a look the same way that "Brazil" may garner an audience. Fans of set design and low tech sci-fi may find this movie terrific, but the rest of us may be annoyed. Beware, this film about children is mean and deservedly rated "R."

The Story - An evil inventor perched upon an off-shore oil rig with clone's suffering from sleeping sickness and a talking brain floating in a fish tank searches for dreams he must steal from young children. It is confusing!

The Review - I had real problems following this one. It was nasty at times and uncomfortable viewing. Still, great eye candy and worth the $0.49, I spent at the local video store (of course, not Blockbuster where it would be three dollars or more).

Dubbing is not usually recommended for foreign films (take for example the dubbed version of "Life is Beautiful") but sometimes it is done so well and by the actors themselves that it is hardly noticeable after the first few minutes. Still, the real die hards out there always want the words at the bottom of the screen.

The great big Ron Perlman plays a circus strongman who befriends some of the lost children. Some of you may remember Perlman from the Mexican Vampire film "Cronos."

There is a brain in the tank is named Irvin, I think. Although this is a foreign film, the version I saw was excellently dubbed, especially where the brain was concerned; after all, the brain had no lips at all.

There are, also, weird bugs in "City of Lost Children." Somebody let me know if they liked the 1984 Italian film "Creepers" which features cool bug effects, and maybe worth a video risk.

I saw "City of Lost Children" one time and skimmed it for this review. According to many of the user reviews on IMDB, it improves upon multiple viewings. While this might be true, I could not bring myself to watch it a second time.

Jonathan Hickman