5 Great Movies That Didn't Have to Speak English

5 Great Movies That Didn't Have to Speak English 
By Darrin Jones / March 20

5. The City of Lost Children
Time to top off the list with a dark fantasy about monstrous beings...hmm, maybe I should get out more. The City of Lost Children is a French film and when I say ‘French’ I mean the kooky side. This movie will have the most avant-garde mindfreak you will experience and damn is it good. If you can make it past the creepy cover and actually make it to the movie, it is seriously one of the most enjoyable ‘trips’ you will have. 

Seriously though, that is really creepy.

The plot is the simplest to explain, a mad scientist can’t dream so he kidnaps children to  make them dream for him. He mistakenly kidnaps the little brother of a carnival strongman who sets out to rescue his little brother and the other stolen children with the help of a band of orphan children. That’s it, that’s the whole plot. The true genius comes from how it’s executed and the brilliant characters. This movie is full of characters. And I don’t just mean actors, I mean a collection of half-baked character ideas that The City of Lost Children uses in abundance. The phrase “you don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps,” well that applies here. I mean what other film can you think of that has an evil set of conjoined twins, a flea trainer with mind-controlling fleas, a mad scientist that looks like this:

Whoa.

...who taunts a still living brain in a box in his laboratory that looks like this:

Whoa!

Oh, and did I mention that Ron Perlman plays the strongman? Because Ron Perlman plays the freaking strongman! That’s right, the Ron Perlman, before he was Hellboy, before he was Johner from Alien: Resurrection, he was the strongman from The City of Lost Children.

It’s Ron-Freaking-Perlman!

I don’t know what more to tell you folks. If the idea of Ron Perlman speaking French and just being Ron Perlman is not enough for you then nothing will be. Go get some class!

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