Probably the biggest surprise on Oscar-nomination morning this year was that this French production and the Spanish “Chico & Rita’’ received nods for Best Animated Feature at the expense of the likes of Pixar’s “Cars 2.’’
The delightful “Chico & Rita’’ was fully deserving of this honor; not this traditionally animated feline caper, which seems slight and unremarkable, especially compared to two other wonderful French-language nominees in this category in recent years, “The Triplets of Belleville’’ and “The Illusionist.’’
This story of a Parisian family’s cat accompanying a cat burglar on his nightly rounds is being shown in two versions in New York.
At the Angelika only, the last two screenings of the day will be of the original Oscar-nominated version, shown in French, with English subtitles. Otherwise, it’s a Disney-style English dub job utilizing the voices of Matthew Modine, Anjelica Huston and Marcia Gay Harden that I haven’t seen. A short pads out the program.