sergebroom | Jul. 25th, 2011

The latest bit of research for "Steampunk and Hollywood" really is Belleépoquepunk, but, hey, I'm openminded. Besides, not only does 2010’s “The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec” look good, it also is fun. And quite tongue-in-cheek.

The year is 1911 and Adèle Blanc-Sec, though she is a world-reknown writer, has been living with the guilt of a tennis match that went overboard and left her twin sister comatose, thanks to a hair pin driven thru her skull. Adèle will not rest until Agathe has been saved, and the only way to do so is to bring back to life the mummy of Ramsès II’s doctor Setimothep. Unfortunately her old friend Marie-Joseph Espérandieu is the only person capable of this, and he’s about to be sentenced to death, a fate that Adèle tries to stop by pleading with the Président of the République. She almost convinces the latter to pardon Espérandieu, until a pterodactyl accidentally brought to life by the latter swoops down and attacks France’s leader while he’s also trying to get his Scottish Terrier to fetch a ball.

Recommended. Before you ask if you can borrow the DVD, which was a Christmas gift from my friend Abi, you have to know a few things: (1) it’s a European-zone DVD although it’ll play on laptops with the VLC software; (2) it’s in French; (3) the only subtitles are in French, for deaf people.