The City of Lost Children  provides mental escape

With brainsm kids and monsters, film lends itself to escape and stress release

Oberlin Film Society's Friday showing of The City Of Lost Children,  a visually stunning, surreal fairy tale, is an ideal break from the monotony of finals. There is no better way to escape from the stress than by immersing oneself in a world where monsters, midgets, big-eyed children and a brain in an aquarium live side by side.

The City Of Lost Children  is directed by French auteurs Jeunet and Caro, who have already proven with their earlier movie Delicatessen   that they are well-versed in making surreal, animated fantasy epics.

The whole world of the movie, roughly set in an alternative medieval-like France, is peppered with freaks: Krank, reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster, his midget mother, cyclopean soldiers, conjoined twins, a disembodied brain (that always has a migraine) and last, but not least, doped-up fleas.

The plot centers around the fact that Krank, due to a defect from his absent inventor, lacks one very important human quality - he cannot dream. To make up for this, Krank captures little children and steals their dreams. One day he makes the mistake of kidnapping Denree, a street urchin, thereby incurring the wrath of Denree's much older brother, the strongman One, played by Ron Perlman.

One vows to get Denree back, and aided by Miette, another urchin, charges into Krank's island stronghold. Miette gets captured and in a series of suspenseful plot twists leading up to the gripping finale, ends up battling the old monster herself.

Needless to say, The City Of Lost Children  is an amazing movie. If not for anything else, the film is worth watching merely for the brilliant and fascinating visual effects. This production used more special effects than any other French film in history.

The scenes involving the flight of the fleas, after being injected with a speed-type drug, are particularly dazzling. Also, the fast-paced, well-edited cinematography and eerie music, composed by Angelo Badalamenti of Twin Peaks  fame, are far more sophisticated than the best MTV music video. The freakish characters are almost frighteningly convincing as are the adorable children - the only "normal" humans in the movie.

In short, The City Of Lost Children  is the best of all fairy tale movies not only in its technical perfection but in the story itself, which cunningly combines the mystery and magic of fantasy with a great deal of subtle humor as well. One especially hilarious scene involves bumbling clones who attempt to dance and sing old French tunes in an effort to get the captured children to stop having nightmares.

Like any good fairy tale, The City of Lost Children  delivers a moral about the goodness and passion of the human soul; but there is nothing preachy about the twisted, morbid manner in which it is offered.

Even the most hard-hearted freak in the movie has a soft side that we cannot help but connect with. One cannot easily forget the image of the old hawk-nosed Krank crying when he realizes he has no soul.

By the same token, the children are seen with far more complexity than the stereotypical angelic-faced cherubs people usually suppose them to be. Yet despite all this, tender love does occur between the different characters - presented without any treacle sentiment but instead as a true testament to the somewhat human experience.

So take some time out of your busy schedule and plunge yourself in a world utterly unlike your own. Or, maybe it's not. Either way, you will enjoy The City of Lost Children,  and learn to cherish the worst of your nightmares.