Little Nicholas Brings Happiness to Adults

Release Date：Dec/16/2022

Genre：Animation/Family

Director：Amandine Fredon、Benjamin Massoubre

Cast：Alain Chabat、Laurent Lafitte、Simon Faliu

Viola's Rating：8.3

One of the creators of French children’s book Le Petit Nicholas (Little Nicholas), Jean-Jacques Sempe, passed away on August 11, 2022 at age 89. Within half year, this feature film, Little Nicholas-Happy as Can Be, about his signature work was released on Dec 16 of the same year limited, letting the world remember Sempe and his co-creator René Goscinny.

Based on the book of the same name, this family animation tells the story of young Nicolas living a childhood full of joy and learning in between arguments, fights, friendship, games, pranks and punishments.

As an animation, the medium used in Little Nicholas-Happy as Can Be was beautiful watercolor. From coming up with the character, its name to Nicholas’ family and how his home looks like, the film demonstrates how a successful story came to life. Goscinny and Sempe discussed over the color and how Nicholas’ family’s supposed to look like in their imagination. 

Stroke by stroke, they created the idealized version of childhood in 1950s France. Even when it comes to the topic of death and war, the audience gets to listen to how Nicholas thinks of them and what he has to say, especially when Sempe lost his friend due to cardiac arrest. It was too sudden to imagine for little Nicholas, but through witnessing Sempe’s sorrow, he’s learning something about this world.

Both Goscinny and Sempe experienced WWII, but Nicholas is different. He has a perfect childhood that his creators wouldn’t be able to experience. Although it was a peaceful time when Little Nicholas was published, it was still a work that could sooth people’s emotions at the time. By presenting Nicholas’ childhood, the creators reminded the adults what happiness is.

Besides childhood and happiness, Nicholas also represents a dream come true. Both Goscinny and Sempe didn’t have a smooth career. Sempe even wanted to be a jazz musician, but he couldn’t achieve his dream. With the creation of Nicholas, Goscinny and Sempe both accomplished their dreams as comic editor, writer and cartoonist.

Having Nicholas break from the drawing paper, he developed friendship with his creators. Through this process, Little Nicholas-Happy as Can Be also shows that there are artistic inspiration and collaboration working in between. Not only the friendship between Nicholas and the two creators are depicted, but also the friendship between Nicholas and his friends with some classic excerpts. 

Less than one and half hours, Little Nicholas-Happy as Can Be really pays a funny yet sad tribute to the two amazing French comic book artists. They truly continue to live in this world through the existence of Nicholas.

Picture Credit: atmovies