Review: Marona's Fantastic Tale

Release date: June 12, 2020
Running time: 92 minutes
Starring: Lizzie Brocheré, Bruno Salomone, Thierry Hancisse

Marona's Fantastic Tale is an imaginative animated feature about a single dog in Paris and the many masters that she has lived with and loved.  After an accident, Marona goes through her memories to recall the different masters she's had and loved unconditionally.  This journey reveals a lot about an animal's love and also about human nature.

The most striking thing about Marona's Fantastic Tale is the imaginative art style.  This film is animated, but the animation is like nothing I have seen before.  It has a style that is reminiscent of modern artists, with bright colors, exaggerated features, and abstracted shapes to depict the various characters.  The animation is smooth and not bound by human movement.  Characters can float, characters can contort, limbs can bend in strange ways, but all of this is in service of the story.  It is something that has to be seen to understand.  Combined with this imaginative style is some beautiful music.  Much of the film has wonderful accompaniment that matches the artistic style of the film.  Bright scenes have happy music, while sad, darker scenes have muted music.  It really enhances the experience and the whole film should be considered a work of art.

The story of Marona's is an imaginative one, but it is one that suffers from pacing.  Several scenes drag on in order to highlight the wonderful art, but it can lead to a slowly progressing story.  And the art style, while being beautiful and imaginative, can be distracting at times.  That being said, the whole film should be seen to appreciate it.  The story, although focused on the dog itself, has several lessons on humanity and human nature.  And it has some interesting comparisons of happiness between what an animal hopes for versus what a human hopes for.  Marona simply wants to be loved and have the bare minimum, whereas her human masters constantly strive for more.  This eventually leads to unhappiness from both parties.  

Marona's Fantastic Tale is a visual treat, with an imaginative style coupled with wonderful music telling a touching story love and human nature.  

Rent it.