Viva Carmen!: Sébastien Laudenbach’s animated film is inspired by Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen; the protagonist, a 13-year-old street urchin convinced by a seer’s premonition that the raven-haired gipsy beauty Carmen will be killed, tries to save her from her fate. The film introduces new characters and situations to the opera’s plot, most notably a feminist bent, which is not unwelcome. The protagonist is an engaging kid, and so is the group helping him. Milo Machado-Graner plays him with proper youth and energy; Soumaye Bocoum, as the girl who leads the group of street thieves, is equally good; Camélia Jordana, as Carmen, is lovely, and her version of the famous “Habanera” (whose original name inspires the title of the film) is beautiful. Composers Amine Bouhafa and Isabelle Laudenbach incorporate a lot of Bizet’s famous melodies into their original score. The animation veers away from the almost realistic style in vogue nowadays, with colours and lines being both stronger and more fluid; it’s strikingly attractive, with nicely designed characters and settings.