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[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/un_monstre_a_paris.png]]

->''"And all the headlines read, for the whole world to see, a Monster in Paris."''

''A Monster in Paris'' (''Un Monstre à Paris'') is a French animated film directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron (best known for working on WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado and WesternAnimation/SharkTale), with music by Matthieu Chedid, a.k.a. -M-, who's also Francœur's singing voice in French. Creator/VanessaParadis provided both the speaking and singing voices of Lucille for both the French and English dub.

During the Great Flood of 1910, Émile, a shy movie projectionist, and Raoul, a colorful inventor, find themselves embarked on the hunt for a monster terrorizing the citizens of UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}. However, the monster takes refuge with a beautiful, kind-hearted singer named Lucille and is revealed to actually be quite harmless. Now the three of them must continue to protect the monster, Francœur, from the chief of police who's out to kill him.

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!!''A Monster in Paris'' provides examples of:

* ActorAllusion: Francœur dons a wig identical to Matthieu Chedid's famous haircut as "M" for a few seconds.
* AlternateHistory:
** The ''real'' flood of 1910 didn't have to deal with a giant flea, and [[spoiler:wasn't settled by giant sunflowers]].
** There's also the inauguration of Montmartre's funicular. In RealLife, it happened in 1900.
** In the movie, Maynott intends to become mayor of Paris. In RealLife, that function ''didn't exist'' at the time (the equivalent was "Prefect of the Seine", and he was chosen directly by the government, not elected).
** Lucille and Francœur's ''very'' modern dancing in early 1900s Paris.
** Dating is a thing in the film. However, during that time period, courting was still in trend.
* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: Charles, and to a much greater extent, Francœur. They are, respectively, a monkey and a flea, but seem to be about as smart as all the human characters.
* AngelicBeauty: While she's not a ''real'' angel, Lucille's stage costume was made with this in mind.
* AnimatedMusical: There are a number of songs throughout and - aside from "Love is in the Soul", which plays in the background after [[spoiler:Francœur's supposed death]] - all of them are diegetic.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Taken with Francœur on a few levels, who has a human-like face and looks a lot cuddlier than an actual giant flea would.
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: [[spoiler: Maynott is defeated when he is apprehended by French police for Francœur's murder]]. This would not be a crime at all, unless Francœur was [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman legally recognized as a (human) person]]. Granted, it could that he was really being charged with [[spoiler:destroying the funicular and threatening to shoot Lucille, and the "murder of Francœur" charge was just one last dig at Maynott's douchiness]].
* AssholeVictim: The story has two non-lethal variations.
** The pickpocket who tries to steal Émile's camera gets thoroughly (and unintentionally) beat up by Catherine as Raoul tinkers with her controls. Later he gets crushed by a sandbag, launched in the air by Catherine, [[MakesSenseInContext beat up by an old woman]], and is finally arrested.
** Albert is a vain, whiney, and spiteful jerk who tries to sell out Lucille, which makes him being sent to jail quite satisfying.
* AxCrazy: Maynott becomes this in the climax, even wielding an actual axe as he becomes increasingly unhinged.
* BaitAndSwitch: When the man who had a run-in with the monster reports it to the police, one of them seems to be taking a facial composite of the monster in question. But when the police officer taking the statement asks him to show it, it turns out his friend was actually drawing the man.
* BatmanInMyBasement: Lucille hides Francœur in her dressing room, and multiple gags revolve around her needing to hastily hide him when someone starts to come in.
* BeastAndBeauty: A platonic example. [[Lucille and Francœur]] do not become romantically involved, but are good friends and amicable co-performers.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Raoul and Lucille's entire relationship is built on this. They're described as having been bickering non-stop since childhood. And even though they still fight all the time, it's obvious Raoul has a thing for her. [[spoiler:It's revealed at the end of the movie that Lucille feels the same]].
* BespectacledCutie: Maude is a short, cute woman with big glasses
* BetaCouple: Émile and Maude, who are actually set up before Raoul and Lucille but have a lot less plot emphasis.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Francœur is a giant (albeit anthropomorphic) flea.
* CallBack: Émile [[spoiler:using an umbrella as a weapon against Maynott]] is a callback to his daydream at the start of the film, as is [[spoiler:his PreAsskickingOneliner to Maynott]] ("It's showtime!").
* CastingGag: The joke of having a giant singing insect being voiced by the son of [[Music/JohnLennon one of]] Music/TheBeatles in the English dub.
* CatScare: A small one in one of the scenes introducing Francœur; a husband and a wife are trying to retrieve the latter's pearls from her broken necklace when something small and quick skitters behind the woman and spooks her. It turns out to be an alley cat, but the cat hisses at something before running off, which is when the husband and wife see the monster.
* TheChanteuse: Lucille, a professional singer whose act is largely built on her (kid-friendly) seductiveness.
* ChekhovsGag:
** Raoul's straw coat, which he insists multiple times is ''not'' made of straw, is used [[spoiler:to shake off the police cars chasing him in the film's climax, attracting a hungry horse that ends up blocking the fleet's path]].
** Raoul later uses the flap on Catherine that he demonstrated at the beginning of the film (to less-than-stellar results) to [[spoiler:sail to the Eiffel Tower when Maynott drops them into the flooded Seine]].
* ChekhovsGun: The sunflower seed Raoul pockets during his first trip to the lab [[spoiler:is used to save him and Lucille from falling to their death during the Eiffel Tower battle]].
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Raoul and Lucille have been friends since childhood, and eventually [[spoiler:they end up together]].
* CoatHatMask: Francœur manages to get by with this outfit for much of the movie, albeit by fitting two arms in each sleeve.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: [[spoiler:Maynott's]] final fate, being [[spoiler: locked up with a really bad singer]].
* CompanionCube: Catherine to Raoul; she's a van, but one he loves dearly.
* CoolMask: Again, Francœur, who wears a very ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''-esque mask.
* CostumePorn: Francœur's Phantom of the Opera-like white suit and mask, and Lucille's deliberately angel-like dress, are both adorned with plenty of accessories that fall into this territory.
* CreativeClosingCredits: Made up of the film's own ConceptArt and {{Storyboard}}s.
* CuteMonster: Despite being an anthropomorphic flea, [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsenjtBUhI1qfhipjo1_500.jpg Francœur]] is absolutely adorable.
* CuteMute: Francœur can only "speak" in chirps and bleeps. It appears that the only way he can "speak" actual words is when he sings them.
* DancePartyEnding: The final scene features multiple members of the main cast dancing during one of Lucille's shows.
* DeadpanSnarker: Raoul has a quip for every occasion, to the point that him ''not'' making a quip [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness highlights just how serious the moment is]]. Lucille also has her moments, [[BelligerentSexualTension usually while snarking with Raoul]] [[SnarkToSnarkCombat with Raoul]].
* DecoyProtagonist: Subverted; the focus on Raoul and Émile quickly switches to Lucille and Francœur, but about halfway through the movie the focus is on all four characters.
* DisneyAcidSequence: The "La Seine" sequence becomes this about halfway through, with Lucille and Francœur dancing on the rooftops of Paris and on the Eiffel Tower, though we can assume this is not meant to be literally happening within the story.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Francœur]]. Everyone assumes he's dead, but in actuality [[spoiler:he simply shrank back down to normal size again]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: After Albert tips off Maynott that Francœur is at the Rare Bird, the Commissioner storms there and is rather caustic and physically aggressive with Lucille. The way he acts, his mannerism is less like a hunter searching for his quarry and more like a jealous boyfriend trying to find his girlfriend's lover.
* EasilyForgiven: Played with. Lucille made it perfectly clear that if he ever entered her dressing room, Maynott would be crossing a line she would never forgive him for. That doesn't stop him from doing so. Afterwards, when it seems she's not hiding the monster, Lucille [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope to give an apologetic Maynott the illusion that he's still in her good favor.
* TheEdwardianEra: The film is set in 1910.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In their first scene alone, Maynott and Pâté's conversation best displays their personalities for the audience. Maynott is rather flippant about the flooding of the Seine, and is rather interested in [[BreadAndCircuses 'diverting' the populace's attention from the problem]]. Pâté on the other hand is more focused on the issue at hand and thinks up to either help the people or to solve the problem in general.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Played straight... but also subtly subverted. The movie is in fact about a monster in Paris, but [[spoiler:it can be argued that the ''real'' monster is [[ExactWords Maynott]], not Francœur]].
* TheFaceless: Raoul's professor friend is absent for most of the story, and he's facing away from the camera when he finally appears at the end of the film.
* FaintInShock: Lucille faints when she first sees Francœur.
* FieryRedhead: Lucille is a temperamental and opinionated redheaded woman.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** At the beginning of the movie, the newspaper seller is shouting a headline about how the "Commissioner's popularity at an all-time low". How does Maynott get his public approval rating back? [[spoiler:By publicly hunting down an enlarged flea who would never hurt anyone because it will make him look heroic to save Paris from the alleged monster]].
** Francœur witnessing [[spoiler:his arm hairs shrink]] tells the audience that [[spoiler:the Super Fertilizer's effects are starting to gradually wear off]].
** During Lucille's and Francœur's fantasy dance sequence, at one point he is peeking over the edge of the lighthouse cap. [[spoiler:This is his exact location Maynott attempts to kill him at the end of the movie]]. Doubles as a DarkReprise.
* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: Francœur is bipedal despite the fact that fleas naturally walk on six legs. He does have six limbs, but only two of them are used as legs.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the scene where Victor Maynott and Inspector Pâté are talking with each other about the current flood and how to take care of it, you can see Albert fruitlessly struggling to uncork the bottle of wine he's brought for the pair, from using his teeth to holding it with his feet, until finally he manages to get it off after the word "pop".
* FunWithHomophones: The French version of the song "La Seine et moi" plays on the words "Seine" and "Scène" (the stage) sounding the same. When it's Francœur's turn to sing, it's no longer about the river Seine, but about Lucille performing on stage.
* GadgeteerGenius: Raoul has tricked up his van with many inventions, most of which don't work as intended.
* GayParee: The film gets a lot of mileage out of its turn-of-the-century Parisian setting.
* GentleGiant: Francœur, who is very large and [[StealthPun wouldn't hurt a flea]].
* HartmanHips:
** Lucille has this figure, and her angel dress deliberately accentuates her hips to highlight it.
** The lady who drops her necklace in the alley way has even more prominent curves.
* HeelFaceTurn: Pâté, who slowly realizes over the course of the film that Maynott is not exactly the responsible authority figure, has one during the film's climax. [[spoiler:He's ultimately the one who arrests Maynott when the commissioner appears to have killed Francœur]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Raoul and Émile seem to be this. Both colleagues and best friends, they're rarely apart.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Pâté shows UndyingLoyalty towards Maynott, despite the fact that Maynott makes it increasingly obvious that he's an [[ItsAllAboutMe arrogant, vapid and self-centered jerk]]. [[spoiler:Pâté finally comes to his senses at the climax of the movie and arrests Maynott himself]].
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Francœur and Lucille. While Lucille is about average height, Francœur towers over regular humans and turns their performances together into this trope.
* HurricaneOfPuns: Raoul frequently includes puns in his quips. In the English version one doubles as a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.
* ImagineSpot: The film begins with Émile going on a fantastical date with Maude that cultivates in him battling a dragon. This is quickly revealed to simply be a dream he was having while he ran a dragon-themed movie.
* ImpendingDoomPOV: Parodied. When Lucille is reading the notice about the monster, it cuts to a POV of something large and looming creeping up behind her...which actually just turns out to be Raoul delivering champagne.
* ImmuneToBullets: Francœur takes a couple shots to the exoskeleton without batting an eye.
* InASingleBound: Francœur still has the abilities of a flea, including the ability to jump to incredible heights proportionate to its body, which naturally leads to some pretty awesome RoofHopping.
* IndyPloy:
** This is Raoul's schtick during the climax; using his coat to block off the police cars chasing him by throwing it to a hungry horse, activating and deactivating the flap on Catherine over and over to sail across the flooded Seine, and using the seed he pocketed at the lab to grow a giant sunflower that provides him and Lucille with a safe landing when they fall from the Eiffel Tower.
** Also in the climax, Émile uses the Eiffel Tower's searchlight to [[spoiler:temporarily blind Maynott after he's forced to slide the latter's gun back over]].
* InsistentTerminology: Raoul's coat isn't ''made of straw'', it's made of a very expensive material! [[spoiler:Although eventually Raoul gives in and admits that, yes, it's made of straw.]]
* InstantExpert: Francœur learns to sing, dance and play guitar incredibly fast. He's also seen writing a piano piece later in the movie despite never having any training in writing music.
* {{Jerkass}}: Albert, a pompous and untalented hack who later sells the protagonists out to Maynott.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Raoul can be irresponsible, rude, and overly confident to the point of arrogance, but when the chips are down he proves to be a loyal and dedicated friend.
* LaughingMad: Maynott has a fit of maniacal laughter after [[spoiler:apparently killing Francœur]] in the climax.
* LastDayOfNormalcy: The first quarter of the movie shows a day in the life of Émile and Raoul, respectively a cinema operator and a delivery guy/inventor, as well as a day in the life of the singer Lucille, establishing that she's under a lot of stress due to her aunt Carlotta pressuring her to accept the courting of [[{{Jerkass}} Commissioner Maynott]] and also because they must find a new musician for the show.
* LightIsNotGood:
** Maynott's signature outfit is a light brown suit, verging on yellow, and his presence is always indicated either by a spotlight, daylight, or a well-lit room. He's also a pompous psychopath and the main antagonist of the film.
** Contrasted with Francœur, who is quite possibly the kindest character in the film, but also has a navy blue complexion, is frequently depicted at night/during cloudy days, and wears a dark coat and hat as part of his disguise.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: [[spoiler:Lucille and Francœur]], according to WordOfGod. [[spoiler:They dance and sing together a lot, so one might assume this would be an InterspeciesRomance story, but it's pretty clear they don't see each other that way]].
* LineOfSightName: Francœur gets his name from a sign in the alley where Lucille finds him.
* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: Averted. While Émile is technically a little person, the film treats this characteristic with sensitivity, touching on how this impacts his self-esteem.
* LoveTriangle: Averted. Fans ''assumed'' this would be the case, partly thanks to some unreliable English summaries.
* MadnessMantra: After seeing Francœur in the alleyway outside the cabaret, Lucille hides behind the door and repeats that "It's just a nightmare, I will wake up."
* MaleGaze: During the broken necklace scene in the alleyway, the camera noticeably lingers on the behind of the woman in the red coat.
* MediumBlending: The film opens with a {{newsreel}} of live-action footage of the real 1910 flood.
* MonumentalBattle: The climax takes place in the Eiffel Tower.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The American trailer for the movie led many to believe that Francœur and Lucille would end up romantically involved, a la ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', with Raoul playing the part of Gaston. None of this turned out to be true.
* NoFlowInCGI: Impressively averted with Lucille's performance dress and Francœur's cloaks/scarves.
* NonhumansLackAttributes: Justified with Francœur, since fleas' reproductive organs aren't readily visible or recognizable as such. Played straight with Charles.
* PaperThinDisguise: Francœur's [[CoatHatMask coat, hat, and mask]] magically trick people into thinking he's human, despite the fact that his blue face, [[SupernaturalGoldEyes huge yellow eyes]], and large ''pincers'' are still quite visible under his mask.
* PlotAllergy: Raoul's feather allergy gets him in trouble several times, particularly by embarrassing Lucille while she's in her angel costume and later by [[spoiler:triggering an IllTimedSneeze that almost causes him and Lucille to fall off the Eiffel Tower]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Pâté is set up as a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist and consistently has the good of the city in mind.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Averted in the first stinger, when [[spoiler:the heroes use the rapidly-growing dandelions to drain the overflowing river]].
* SceneryPorn: Paris is pretty, and this movie wants you to know that.
* ShoutOut:
** A couple enters a dark alley after watching a performance and the wife's pearl necklace breaks, like [[{{Franchise/Batman}}in the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents]].
** Francœur's "monster" outfit makes him look like Literature/TheShadow.
** The mask Francœur wears while performing with Lucille makes him look like Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera (if he were a [[Music/MichaelJackson Smooth Criminal]]).
** The "eccentric" wig Francœur initially tries out is the same "owl" hairstyle famously donned by his original voice actor, French singer-songwriter Matthieu Chedid (better known as -M-).
** Madame Carlotta's name may be a reference to the character Carlotta from ''The Phantom of the Opera''. Raoul also has the same name as the VictoriousChildhoodFriend in ''The Phantom of the Opera''.
** Lucille's [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "Reason You Suck" Speech]] to Maynott is more than a little reminiscent of "[[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast He's no monster, Gaston, YOU are!]]"
* ShrinkingViolet: Émile is a male example.
-->'''Émile:''' The smaller you are, the less people look at you. At...At least that's been my experience.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: Lucille, who is the female lead.
* SkewedPriorities:
** When the bus narrowly avoids colliding with Raoul's truck and throws Francœur face first into the hood, Lucille immediately checks to see if he's injured. Raoul's only concern is that the impact damaged the hood.
** At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Lucille confesses that she stole Raoul's toy car when they were children to entice him to follow her. When she goes in for a kiss, he interrupts the romantic moment to ask if she still has the toy]].
* TheSpeechless: Francœur is incapable of speaking, communicating via chirps and clicking his pincers instead. However, he's able to form words if he sings them[[note]]the set-up for "A Monster in Paris" (the song) implies he needs to hear music of any sort to be able to talk-sing[[/note]].
* TheStinger: There's one mid-credits scene (see ReedRichardsIsUseless above) and another post-credits scene that shows the villain's final fate: [[spoiler:languishing in a jail cell alongside two horrible singers]]).
* TalkingAnimal: Charles is an interesting variation. He can't physically talk, but circumvents this by writing on cards to communicate. Likewise, Francœur is normally incapable of speech, but - thanks to the effects of the Atomize-A-Tune - he's able to sing very clearly.
* TalkingWithSigns: Charles is trained to communicate through messages written out on cards.
* TitleDrop: A few;
** Firstly, there's the newsboy who exclaims "THERE'S A MONSTER IN PARIS!" to get Raoul's attention after the argument scene.
** Francœur's first song is titled after the movie and, expectedly, namedrops it a few times.
** In the film's climax, Lucille faces [[spoiler:Maynott]] and exclaims "The papers were right; there ''is'' a monster in Paris and I'm looking right at him...!"
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: [[spoiler:Pâté]] is confronted to this choice as he realizes that Maynott is a bastard who's completely lost his sanity. [[spoiler:He chooses the second option.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: During the climax, [[spoiler:Émile]] shakes off his chronic lack of confidence and helps fight Maynott, ultimately playing a key role in stopping Maynott and saving his friends.
* TouchOfTheMonster: {{Subverted}}. Lucille faints at the first sight of Francœur. He catches her and cradles her, and the position they end up in is evocative of old pulp magazine covers, specifically the Rape of the Sabine Women variation. The big difference is, of course, that Francœur means Lucille no harm at all.
* {{Tsundere}}: Lucille has been this to Raoul since the first grade, teasing him because she wanted him to follow her (which Raoul expectedly took the wrong way, leading to their initial rivalry). [[spoiler:At the end of the film, both she and Raoul clear things up and confess their love for each other]].
* VocalDissonance: Francœur, a 7-foot-tall flea monster, has a high-pitched voice that's almost angelic.
* VillainousBreakdown: While Maynott was clearly never a rational man to begin with, he gets increasingly more unhinged as the movie goes on, culminating in him [[spoiler:wildly brandishing a firearm and [[LaughingMan laughing maniacally]] when he believes he's killed Francœur]].
* VillainousCrush: Maynott for Lucille. It's obvious he's eager to have her as a TrophyWife.
* WhamLine: In-Universe for [[spoiler:Pâté]]. In the film's finale, Lucille tries to stop Maynott [[spoiler:from ascending the tower and killing Francœur by pulling a GoThroughMe, to which Maynott just laughs "Don't tempt me!". Cut to Pâté looking on [[WhatTheHellHero visibly disturbed]].]]
* WhatAPieceOfJunk: Raoul's truck, Catherine. He loves "her" more than such a truck might deserve.
* WhiteGloves: Part of Francœur's costume for much of the movie.
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