Review: ‘Billy and Buddy’ translates into brisk giddiness
A live-action cartoon, “Billy and Buddy†manages to maintain the kind of brisk giddiness that many animated films struggle to achieve. But as family fare with a few unsettling Gallic touches, the boy-and-his-dog escapade is an odd fit.
Based on the long-running French-language comic-book series “Boule et Bill,†the comedy spins around the bond between a likably enterprising red-headed 8-year-old (Charles Crombez) and the cocker spaniel who falls for him in part because they have the “same fur color.†Theirs isn’t the story’s only instant love connection: The dog and a tortoise named Caroline share not just an interspecies crush but an ooh-la-la interlude set to a breathy Serge Gainsbourg-style musical number. C’est vrai.
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Manu Payet provides the droll voiceover for the pooch, who tries everything he can think of to ingratiate himself with the boy’s exasperated father (Franck Dubosc). Marina Foïs (“Polisseâ€) plays the skeptical mother, who doesn’t take well to the family’s move from suburbia to an ugly Paris-adjacent high-rise complex.
Directors Alexandre Charlot and Franck Magnier intercut the lively high jinks with less-than-cheery matters of marital conflict. Supporting roles — a neurotic neighbor (Nicolas Vaude) and fulminating headmaster (Lionel Abelanski) — are played ultra-broad, but the central players find the right balance between caricature and character as the family adjusts to change.
“Billy and Buddy.†No MPAA rating. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 19 minutes. At Music Hall, Beverly Hills.
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