‘Little Amélie or the Character of Rain’ Review: Animated French Charmer Portrays the Magic and Terror of Early Childhood

Scientists have proven that the human brain develops more rapidly from birth to the age of 5 than it does at any other time in one’s life. And yet when it comes to movies, there’s probably no other period harder to depict on screen. Films like Look Who’s Talking and The Boss Baby have certainly tried and, to an extent, succeeded in capturing the joys and chaos of infancy and toddlerhood. But they rarely manage to channel that age’s sense of discovery, mystery and terror.

In the charming new French animation flick Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Amélie et la métaphysique des tubes), those feelings are front and center in a story that favors sensations over storytelling, plunging the viewer into the brain of a child waking up to the world around her for the first time. The twist, so to speak, in Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han’s feature debut,…