When called by it’s french title “Micmacs à tire-larigot”, meaning non-stop shenanigans, the title of the film makes a lot more sense. With a name like that and an ultra imaginative director like Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one would think their in for a fun little treat of a film, and one would be correct.

Bazil (Dany Boon) lost his father at a young age due to a land mine explosion. Fast forwarding thirty years or so, Bazil almost loses his life when a stray bullet enters his brain outside the video store where he works. In a hilarious scene that follows, the surgeons flip a coin to decide his fate, and ultimately end up leaving the bullet in Bazil’s head, which plays a big part in the story — explaining Bazil’s childlike wonder and untimely brain farts. When Bazil looks at a logo on the shell casing from the bullet, he decides to visit the arms factory where it was made. While doing so, he realizes that the arms factory that made the mine that killed his father is located directly across the street. With the help of his newly acquired and highly eccentric street family, he sets in motion a grand scheme to take down the two arms dealers by pinning them against one another.

Aside from “Alien: Resurrection,” which is epic in it’s randomness, Jeunet has established a unique style of his own. Like Michel Gondry with a classic feel, Jeunet manages to mix human wonderment with the bizarre yet fun engineered figurines to create a visual portrayal of one’s imagination. Although “Micmacs” does not quite reach the level of “Amelie,” it still holds strong on it’s own as Jeunet takes us on another fun ride through unusual territory.

While the actors in this film may be as far away from household names as humanely possible, that in no way effects the quality of acting. I literally wanted to shake Dany Boon’s hand after viewing this film. His combination of a man on a mission and an unusual yet wholesome man with many funny quirks is richly entertaining to me. All the other actors in this band of misfits work so well as a group you’d think they actually live together in some junkyard fortress.

“Micmacs” is a serious story told in a light-hearted way. Even as you witness a death of a character on screen, you don’t feel saddened or even defeated in any way. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. You’re almost so sure that everything is going to work out that there is no suspense, but you’re having so much fun, who needs it. With a limited release and a small target audience, “Micmacs” might be tough to find but it is definitely worth seeing.