Halfway through the movie, Maynott tells Raoul that "This is a story about heroes, and heroes don't go to prison." At the end of the movie, this proves to be true: none of the protagonists ever end up in prison, while Maynott, who is most certainly not a hero, finishes the movie in a jail cell.
Also, Lucille tells Albert that instead of "someone to give [him] a big break", he should find "new friends". In The Stinger, Albert is shown befriending the pick-pocket in prison as they happily sing his terrible songs together. Turns out that really was all he needed.
Maynott's dining area is white and pristine. But despite having so many tables and chairs, it's practically empty, save for Lucille and Maynott. This reflects the artificiality of Maynott's popularity, and how he doesn't have friends.
The Rare Bird may be dark whenever Lucille performs, but all the tables are filled with people who genuinely admire her. And the bright stage also reflects Francoeur's personality, having a pure heart despite his dark appearance.
The movie has a running theme that things are not always as they appear to be.
Emile believes that his crush on Maud is one-sided, but it turns out Maud shares the same feelings for him.
Raoul and Lucille bicker whenever they're together, but it's only to hide their attraction to each other.
Lucille hides her feistiness from her fans and only pretends to be polite for Maynott, who fully believes that she's interested in him when in reality Lucille can't stand him. She shows her true kindhearted nature when she meets Francoeur.
Maynott presents himself as a heroic and altruistic figure, but is actually a pompous, vain man who's all talk and no action. Additionally, most of the characters believe that he's merely a Jerkass, but once he meets Francoeur face-to-face, he proves that he's actually a straight up psychopath when he ruthlessly tries to kill Francoeur for the sake of his own popularity and even goes so far as to almost shoot Lucille.
Why is it that Pâté makes his Heel–Face Turn when Maynott decided to shoot Lucille? Why now, instead of when he endangered the other citizens during the chase, or when he came to realize Francoeur was harmless? Because he too had heard Lucille's beautiful singing. And it horrified him that Maynott would shoot, not just the object of his Villainous Crush, but somebody as talented and sweet as Lucille. For him, hearing Maynott say "Don't tempt me" is a big Wham Line.
And more simply, because he witnessed Maynott admitting that he would gladly commit a cold-blooded murder.
On the main page, it's stated that it's a case of Artistic License – Law for trying to kill Francoeur (a flea) to count as premeditated murder. And that may be true. However, that's exactly the point. Pate is struggling with whether To Be Lawful or Good, and normally he would go with lawful. But by telling Maynott he's being arrested for essentially trying to murder a non-human, he's showing Character Development by recognizing that the spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law.
Raoul and Emile didn't rightfully earn their Badges of Honor, but they end up doing good deeds that warrent the badges later on. Raoul earned his badge by Taking the Bullet for Lucille (if only to a less deadly degree), and Emile by standing up to Maynott.
Francoeur's name isn't just meaningful because he's big-hearted. If you look at his face, you can see that it's heart-shaped.
Fridge Horror
What would happen if someone swallowed one of the sunflower seeds with the growth formula on it?
Considering the fact that fleas drink blood, it's lucky for the characters that Francoeur never got hungry.
Francoeur definitely would have been lethally shot if the growth formula had worn off a few seconds later. The movie was this close to a Downer Ending.
Raoul wasn't just being a drama queen when he freaked out over nearly being shot in the crotch by Maynott. Realistically, this is the quickest way for a man to bleed out.
Fridge Logic
When Pâté finds out about how Raoul, Emile, and Charles had a hand in Francoeur's creation, he tries to have them all arrested. Ignoring the fact that one of the accused is a monkey, what exactly did he think they would they be charged with?
In this case, considering the extraordinary circumstances and the uncertainty of what exactly was going on, it's likely that Pâté simply wanted to take potentially dangerous parties into custody and worry about the specific charges later.
