"easily up there as one of the best stop-motion animated films"

My Life as a Courgette is a beautifully animated debut feature from celebrated filmmaker Claude Barras, based on a script from acclaimed writer/director Céline Sciamma that tells the story of Courgette, a nine year old boy that is befriended by Raymond, a Police Officer who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age following the sudden death of his mother.

My Life as a Courgette at its core is a simple story of family and belonging, painstakingly brought to the screen in glorious stop-motion animation with memorable bold characters, that you forget are animated as you empathise and engage with them from start to finish.

I saw an English dub version of My Life as a Courgette that includes the vocal talents of Will Forte, Nick Offerman, Ellen Page and Amy Sedaris and at no point in the film did I feel that the voices were out of place or easily recognisable, I was engrossed from start to finish.

As I said above My Life as a Courgette, is a simple story and in this day and age that's rather refreshing considering that the unique look of the characters is enough to keep you enthralled in their exploits, and there is a tangibility to this film that makes it far superior to some CGI efforts.

My Life as a Courgette is easily up there as one of the best stop-motion animated films with the likes of The Boxtrolls, Coraline, Frankenweenie and Kubo and the Two Strings, the character designs are wonderfully weird and it's a special company that makes you engage with a film that uses this animation style.