The plot tells you only a little as so much fun lies in the animation itself. A grandmother, Madame Souza, a woman who has a club foot and wears a thick-soled shoe, tries to find what interests her grandson Champion, who is a lonely lad. She decides to train him to cycle in the Tour de France. The training scenes are uproariously funny. Finally, when he grows to be an adult and enters the race he is kidnapped and his cycling skill harnessed to industrial needs.

Madame Souza is determined to find and free him. There is help from the Triplets of Belleville, famous singers whose numbers sound as if sung by the Andrews Sisters. Oh yes, there's a family dog who dreams of trains and runs up the stairs to a window whenever it is time for one to pass. A chase scene goes on a bit long, but that's forgivable.

Director Sylvain Chomet has a show business oriented beginning, with a caricature of Fred Astaire. His dancing shoes move separately and eventually devour him. There's a caricature of singer-dancer Josephine Baker and other entertainment references. Chomet lets his imagination wander with the use of machines and gadgets, all enchantingly illustrated. Chomet also picks up on the little touches that make the milieu look typically French.

All the humor aside, the devotion of the grandmother is moving, and it is quite amazing how much feeling can be generated by Chomet's storytelling, which depends throughout on visual invention that pleases the eye in an offbeat way and often tickles the funny bone. This is a film better seen than described.