Imagery, Not Plot, Strong Point Of ‘Lost Children’

French-made, “The City of Lost Children” is a lot closer to a Grimm’s fairy tale than it is to any Hollywood-inspired silly symphony.

No “Ghostbusters” in this corner.

That’s because it was written and directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jenuet, the filmmakers responsible for “Delicatessan,” that brilliant bit of atmospheric flakiness of five years back.

And just as “Delicatessan” imbues a mostly taboo subject (cannibalism) with humor and style, “The City of Lost Children” does much the same with another touchy topic: the violation of innocence.

Briefly, “The City of Lost Children” is set in a netherworld that resembles any greasy port city - assuming such a place just happens to exist in perpetual darkness, is inhabited by one-eyed militants dressed in black leather, haunted by nasty-dispositioned Siamese-twin sisters and home to an evil being who preys on children because he has lost the ability to dream.

Running though the streets of this dank city are the wildebeest equivalents of the filmmakers’ imagination, the homeless (and parentless) children of the film’s title. Then again, these preadolescent munchkins make uncommon prey. Being uncommonly quick, intelligent and resourceful, they are potential foodstuff with a definite attitude.

Facing long odds, aided only by a monosyllabic circus strongman (Ron Perlman), the children and their struggle to survive make up what passes for a plot.

Of course, as with “Delicatessan,” story is not the main attraction of “The City of Lost Children.” Imagery is. In that sense, the film is a blend of “Pinocchio” and “Oliver Twist” as written by Roald Dahl, bearing the style of “Brazil” as directed by David Lynch. Got all that?

Which is to say that whether we’re watching one actor become several versions of himself (all in the same scene), whether we’re following the aerial gymnastics of a killer mechanical flea, or whether we’re watching the destruction of an offshore, oil-rig-looking palace of horrors, the look of “The City of Lost Children” is worthy of a dropped jaw or three.

It helps that the acting is uniformly good. The children are quite expert, especially Judith Vittet as a tough little urchin named Miette who becomes the strongman’s adopted sister. And Perlman, the articulate beast on television’s “Beauty and the Beast,” is fine, too, as a man whose feelings are as keen as his mind is dull.

Such visuals can’t compensate completely for the film’s inability to make an overall cohesive point. Nor can they make up for at least one serious lapse in tone (it involves a betrayal of Miette).

Finally, though, if you remember anything about this review at all, remember this: While it is about small children, “The City of Lost Children” is not - and I repeat, NOT appropriate for them.

But don’t fret about it. There’s always “Ghostbusters” to rent.

, DataTimes MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. “The City of Lost Children” *** Location: Magic Lantern Cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, starring Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon and Jean-Claude Dreyfuss Running time: 1:52 Rating: R

2. Other views Here’s what other critics say about “The City of Lost Children:” William Arnold/Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Above all, “City” stumbles and dies on the level of narrative. The filmmakers seem to lack the fundamental storytelling skills required to hook us into its bold premise and keep us oriented with it. It’s extraordinarily oblique and dense and pretentious, much closer to offform Antonionni than the “Wizard of Oz.” Michael H. Price/Fort Worth StarTelegram: Charles Dickens meets Tod Browning’s “Freaks” in a splendid new film called “The City of Lost Children,” a phantasmagoria of such impossible architecture, implausible misadventures and dreamlike poignance that no one who sees it can come away unaffected. Robert W. Butler/Kansas City Star: “The City of Lost Children” is the film Terry Gilliam has been trying to make for years. Unfortunately for Gilliam, it was made by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, the Frenchmen whose 1991 “Delicatessen” is permanently etched into the memories of everyone who saw it. Henry Sheehan/Orange County Register: An unfortunate demonstration that dazzling production design is no substitute for characterization or pace, “The City of Lost Children” is nevertheless quite a sight to behold. Bob Strauss/Los Angeles Daily News: Imaginative as it all is … Caro and Jeunet are just too eager to rub our eyes in “Lost Children’s” baroque art direction. Every scene in the movie seems to last too long, as if the camera was just kept running so we could linger over every bizarre detail of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s costumes and every tube leading in and out of each monstrous Rube Goldberg contraption. This slows the film’s pacing to a crawl, and that’s pure death for a story that’s operating on numerous confusing levels of arcane metaphor and dream reality. Jay Carr/The Boston Globe: A huge, rich simmering stewpot of weirdness and extravagant visuals, “City of Lost Children” is far darker, creepier and more elaborate than (“Delicatessen”). It shouldn’t be such a treat to watch, considering that it defines a nocturnal dungeon of a terminal-looking world bent on sucking dreams out of the heads of children. Stephen Whitty/San Jose Mercury News: The filmmakers don’t always make perfect sense. Yet they have made something striking. Jane Sumner/Dallas Morning News: This is a visual tour de force, a spectacular ramble on the dark side of the imagination with strong performances and big-time special effects. It’s an impressive evil eyeful, all right, but hard to care very much about. And what did the filmmakers do to get those little kids to bawl on camera? At their tender age, not even Shirley Temple could cry like that on cue.