ABC Film Challenge – Animation – J – Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013)
Director: Stephane Berla, Mathias Malzieu
Writer: Mathias Malzieu (Screenplay)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Mathias Malzieu, Olivia Ruiz, Grand Corps Malade, Jean Rochefort, Rossy de Palma
Plot: A 19th-century drama about a man whose heart was replaced with a clock when he was born. The situation dictates that he should avoid feeling strong emotions — love, most of all — but he just can’t keep his feelings under wraps.
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart starts when Jack is born with a frozen heart. Madeleine needing to fix the problem, giving him a cuckoo-clock heart, with three simple rules. 1. Never touch the hands in the clock, 2. Don’t get angry and 3. Never fall in love.
Jack is raised by Madeleine after his mother left him, with a growing boy wanting to see the world. Which starts with Edinburgh, seeing Jack meet Miss Acacia in town, falling in love. He ends up wanting to find Miss Acacia. Which will see him needing to travel around Europe to win her heart, risking his own life to do so.
Thoughts on Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Characters
Jack is a young boy born with a frozen heart, replaced with a cuckoo-clock. That keeps him alive, he must abide by a strict set of rules to survive. never touch the hands on his clock. Never get angry and never fall in love. Once he goes out into the world for the first time, he instantly falls in love. Nearly breaking his heart and after in incident. He must go on the run, searching for the woman he has fallen in love with. This is a character that will do anything for love no matter what happens to him.
Miss Acacia is the singer that Jack meets in his first visit to town. Her performances bring the city to a standstill, but her vision isn’t strong. Not remembering what she saw in Jack. She has her own tragic story of her time in Edinburgh, with her own defensive change. Jack has people help him along the way, with Madeleine being the person who helped raise him. Melies help him on the journey with his own dream of invention and Joe the love rival for Miss Acacia, who will do anything to stop Jack.
Story
The story follows us into the world where a baby is born with a frozen heart, having it replaced with Cuckoo-Clock. With rules to follow to stay alive, when Jack doesn’t follow the rules. He will end up falling love, putting his own life at risk, but winning a heart will come at a cost, as the journey will take Jack across Europe.
This is a beautiful story about love. Turning the idea of different mechanical additions to people to show the pain of emotions the character must go through. Jack with his cuckoo-clock heart is just one, showing us just how painful love can be. The journey to find love is brilliant. Showing us just how far people will go to find love in a world that is so easily to take us everything from us.
Themes – Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is an animated movie that has a beautiful art design. Bringing this fantasy world to life in a way that you will be left in awe of the beauty created. The adventure takes us across Europe in the late 19 hundreds, with technology just starting to be used more in life, even if we go way past anything we would naturally see.
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is by far one of the most beautiful animated movies you will ever see.