A very dark, and fractured, French fairy tale, this film was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's claim to fame (although some think the film before this, Delicatessen, was the better movie). The story of a miserly scientist kidnapping kids to steal their dreams can be confusing in parts, but all the weirdness contributes to an environment that is simply stunning. Amazing effects work (especially the robotic spider and Dominique Pinon x 5), but at its heart, its a story about a girl trying to find her little brother, with help from a simple carnival strongman (played with subtlety by the great Ron Perlman).
City of Lost Children is a feast for the eyes, and if you don't mind foreign films, is definitely worth the 2 hours of your time.
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Amazon.com
The fantastic visions of Belgian filmmakers Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet find full fruition in this fairy tale for adults. Evoking utopias and dystopias from Brazil to Peter Pan, Caro and Jeunet create a vivid but menacing fantasy city in a perpetually twilight world. In this rough port town lives circus strongman One (Ron Perlman), who wanders the alleys and waterfront dives looking for his baby brother, snatched from him by a mysterious gang preying upon the children of the town. Rising from the harbor is an enigmatic castle where lives the evil scientist Krank (Daniel Emilfork), who has lost the ability to dream and robs the nocturnal visions of the children he kidnaps, but receives only mad nightmares from the lonely cherubs. Other wild characters include the Fagin-like Octopus--Siamese twin sisters who control a small gang of runaways-turned-thieves--Krank's six cloned henchmen (all played by the memorable Dominique Pinon from Delicatessen), and a giant brain floating in an aquarium (voiced by Jean-Louis Trintignant). Caro and Jeunet are kindred souls to Terry Gilliam (who is a vocal fan), creating imaginative flights of fancy built of equal parts delight and dread, which seem to be painted on the screen in rich, dreamy colors. --Sean Axmaker
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