[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MV5BMTAzODU0NDExMTNeQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU3MDk2NjMxMzc__V1__SY317_CR50214317__2827.jpg]]

''A Cat in Paris'' (French: ''Une Vie de Chat'') is a 2010 traditionally animated film. It was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Animated Feature.

Zoe, a young girl, has no idea that her beloved cat Dino sneaks out every night to play accomplice to a ClassyCatBurglar named Nico, and neither does her detective mother, Jeanne. But when a notorious gangster rears his head in the city, these unlikely characters must find a way to stop his plot and gain friendship along the way.

Originally in [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] it received an English dub with Creator/MarciaGayHarden as Jeanne, Creator/SteveBlum as Nico, Creator/JBBlanc as Costa and Creator/AnjelicaHuston as Claudine.
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!!Tropes

* AntiHero: Nico is a ClassyCatBurglar but also the one[[spoiler: trying to rescue Zoe.]]
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: [[spoiler: The first hint that Claudine is not as good as she seems is her delight at tormenting Dino with the vacuum]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Claudine.]]
* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler:Nico warns Jeanne and Lucas that he wasn't kidnapping Zoe, he was only trying to help her. And after seeing Claudine (who's in her [[BitchInSheepsClothing nice lady façade]],) he tried to tell the cop partners that ''Claudine'' is the one trying to hurt Zoe. This is justified since Nico is a thief and thieves usually do lie, as Jeanne points out]].
* CatchAFallingStar: [[spoiler:Jeanne catches Nico as he falls from well over 20 feet by his bag, and this enables him to swing effortlessly and land with no problem on a gargoyle.]]
* CharacterTitle: The work is about Dino, the "cat" in the title of the movie.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Claudine's rancid perfume allows Dino and Nico to find where she and Costa's gang are holding Zoe.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: Jeanne's prowess in martial arts. It allows her to [[spoiler: fend off Costa when he tries choking her]].
* TheChewToy: Zoe's mother's partner.
-->''Lucas'': Ten years on the force and she's got me following cat pawprints.
* CityOfAdventure: Paris becomes this to Nico and Dino when they go out thieving.
* ClassyCatBurglar: Nico. Bonus points for having an actual cat for a sidekick!
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Costa. Despite his flabby physique, he's able to [[spoiler: perform acts of parkour and hunt down Nico effortlessly, something even the police couldn't do]].
* CurseCutShort: A security guard in the beginning when he spots Nico: "You sneaky son of a--"
* CuteMute: Zoe, though it's implied that it started with [[spoiler:the death of her father]]. She gets better.
* DamselInDistress: Though she's somewhat resourceful, Zoe is about as useful as an average young girl prowling on the rooftops and running from criminals.
* DamselOutOfDistress: Jeanne when [[spoiler: Costa tries to strangle her. She kicks his ''butt'']].
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Costa]] falls from a crane after he hallucinates that a giant is there to catch him... ItMakesSenseInContext.
* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:He was a police officer that was killed by Costa.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Dino, Nico, Jeanne, and Zoe are now a family.]]
* EasilyForgiven: Justified in that Nico, a cat burglar [[spoiler: saves Zoe twice, which persuades Jeanne off-screen to prevent him from going to jail]].
* EiffelTowerEffect: The {{Trope Namer|s}} is shown, and the climax of the film takes place on top of Notre Dame de Paris.
* EtTuBrute: Averted when Jeanne finds out that her cat is helping a burglar, but played straight when Zoe sees [[spoiler:Claudine passing information to Costa]].
* EvilBrit: Costa, in the English dub, has a wicked Cockney accent.
* EvilDetectingDog: Cat in this case. Dino knows who is a threat to Zoe and who is a friend.
* EvilSmellsBad: [[spoiler:Claudine wears some rancid perfume]].
* FairCop: Jeanne. If his pictures are any indication, [[spoiler:her late husband]] was one too.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Claudine [[KickTheDog mean-spiritedly]] using a vacuum to get rid of Dino while she's cleaning is a huge hint that she's an accomplice of Costa.]]
* GoodCopBadCop: Jeanne and her partner, Lucas, have shades of this.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Jeanne, Nico, and Costa, respectively.
* GroinAttack: [[spoiler:How Jeanne escapes Costa's chokehold]].
* HeelFaceTurn: Nico wasn't a ''bad'' guy per se in the beginning, but he did rob houses and museums without any scruples, and his first question is why a group of men, a girl, and [[spoiler: a woman]] are in his house. When he sees Zoe is in trouble, however, and that Dino knows her, he switches his motivation to saving her from Costa.
* HeightInsult: Since Costa is too short to reach Nico when both are dangling on opposite sides of a statue, Nico begins teasing him for being short. At one point, he says, "Did your mum pick out those shorts for you?" (the joke being that he's both a MamasBoy and so short he wears a pair of shorts as regular pants). However, Costa [[ComicallyMissingThePoint thinks]] he made a YourMom joke.
* TheHeist: What Costa and his gang are planning.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: This is initially why Costa's gang try to kidnap Zoe, since she accidentally listened on their heist plan and [[spoiler: saw her nanny was TheMole]]. Later on the plan changes to IHaveYourWife.
* HeldGaze: [[spoiler:Nico and Jeanne do this after everything is over.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Both Zoe and her mother suffer from this to certain degrees. Zoe [[CuteMute refuses to speak]] and Jeanne is shown breaking into sobs at work after being tormented by a demonic vision of Costa.
* HiddenDepths: Bumbling henchman Mr. Frog mentions that he was once a dancer.
* HostageForMacGuffin: Costa plans to hold Zoe captive to force her mother to give him The Colossus of Nairobi.
* ItsPersonal: Zoe's mother is partly intent on catching Costa because he [[spoiler:killed her husband, a fellow cop, on his last heist]].
* KarmaHoudini: Nico seems to escape judgement for stealing millions of dollars worth of jewelry, although with the TimeSkip it's possible that Jeanne vouched for him to receive a pardon or a commuted sentence, and return all that he stole.
** {{Justified|Trope}} for Dino since he's a cat.
** {{Averted|Trope}} for Costa's gang and [[spoiler:Claudine]] who are arrested and go to jail.
* LeParkour: Justified since this is Paris. Nico, Dino, [[spoiler: Jeanne and Costa]] demonstrate this.
* MacGuffin: A giant statue called The Colossus of Nairobi.
* MamaBear: Jeanne. Do not threaten her daughter in her presence.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Costa's gang. The only one who's competent is [[spoiler:Claudine]].
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Claudine.]]
* MoralityPet: Zoe becomes one for [[spoiler: Nico]] and Dino, though ironically Dino is her literal pet. They spend the second half of the movie protecting her.
* MotiveDecay: At first Costa wants the Colossus of Nairobi, but he starts losing his mind [[spoiler: while chasing down Zoe all night and wants ''her'' instead and to murder Jeanne]].
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler:Costa vs. Zoe's mother in the finale, although Jeanne returns the favor.]]
* NonHumanSidekick: Dino the cat, both to Zoe and Nico.
* NoodleIncident: [[spoiler:The heist that ended in Jeanne's husband, Zoe's father, and a fellow cop being murdered.]]
* NotListeningToMeAreYou: [[spoiler:Zoe asks this after she catches Nico and Jeanne paying more attention to each other than her story.]]
* NotNowKiddo: When Jeanne arrests [[spoiler: Nico on charges of kidnapping, she ignores Zoe tugging on her shirt and desperately trying to tell her the truth.]]
* OhCrap:
** Zoe when [[spoiler: Claudine catches her in Nico's house and grabs her]].
** Jeanne when she realizes that [[spoiler: Nico was telling the truth after finding Zoe's bed empty and that she left her daughter in the hands of a real kidnapper]].
** Nico when he starts to fall [[spoiler: off Notre Dame]].
* OnlyOneName: Except for Costa, we don't know the full names of the cast.
* PermaStubble: Almost off the male characters shown have this.
* PoliceAreUseless: The two guards at the beginning are effortlessly outsmarted by Nico and Dino. Averted with the actual police, who track down Nico and Dino with old-fashioned detective work.
* ThePrecariousLedge: Nico makes a career of walking along incredibly thin ledges. At some point, he even saves a potted plant from falling off a window sill without so much as a stumble.
* RescueRomance: Rather, [[spoiler: rescue my child romance]]. After Nico shows that he's been protecting Zoe, [[spoiler: Jeanne saves him and they start a relationship at the end of the movie]].
* RedRightHand: [[spoiler:Claudine's perfume]] functions roughly as this.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Claudine is working for Victor Costa.]]
* RunningGag: Dino bothering Rufus, the small and very yappy dog.
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Costa suffers this when he imagines the Colossus statue arriving to save him.]]
* SaveTheVillain: Jeanne tries to do this for [[spoiler: Costa]] and Nico helps, but [[spoiler: Costa is too heavy]] and suffers SanitySlippage.
* SayMyName: Rather, say [[spoiler: "MAMA!"]] after Jeanne drives away and leaves Zoe in [[spoiler: treacherous Claudine's hands]].
* ShownTheirWork: In the English version, Jeanne correctly refers to Dino as a "tomcat" which means a male cat.
* {{Sleepwalking}}: Nico almost runs into one when he's stealing another priceless piece of art.
* SnowMeansLove: At the end of the film, Paris is coated in a lovely layer of snow as Zoe, Jeanne, Dino, and [[spoiler: Nico, presumably married to Jeanne,]] celebrate a merry Christmas.
* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Most of Costa's minions drag Zoe around like this when not carrying her. Justified since she is a young girl and they are adults.
* StopDrowningAndStandUp: One of Costa's henchman almost manages to drown in three feet of water -- until his boss yanks him up by the collar.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Aside from [[spoiler:Claudine]], Costa's minions really aren't all that bright.
* TapOnTheHead: Thoroughly averted. Costa [[spoiler:has his head bashed against a steel crane a few times, and promptly begins laughing madly and hallucinating]].
* TeethFlying: {{Downplayed}}. [[spoiler:Nico only loses one tooth during his brawl with Costa.]]
* ThatPoorCat: Claudine scares away Dino with a vacuum cleaner, and Costa tosses Dino [[spoiler: twice in the climax, though the first time Dino shows him why you ''shouldn't'' do that to a cat]].
* WomenAreWiser: [[spoiler:Costa explicitly states that Claudine is the only one he can depend on.]]

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