Is The City of Lost Children a masterpiece? Yes, it undoubtedly has influenced tons of movies such as The Matrix and Strange Days. It is surreal with a Goldbergian heart and plot. It is a dystopian world, but not apocalyptic. This world has always been a dark place, but not without love. There are few to zero examples of people without some enormous physical or mental flaw, which does not necessarily make the people monstrous, but it certainly does not help-one hero does not seem to possess a complete set of mental faculties and two characters appear to be conjoined. It is a world of experimentation-physically and mentally, but instead of intellectual progress, the experimentation leads to madness and murder of the subjects and the experimenter. Not all people are people-some are experiments gone wrong and some are people who want to improve their perceptions by becoming cyborgs. It is a world of orphans, motherless and exploited children-some grown and some not. There is no authority to protect people from being stabbed, kidnapped or murdered. People have to help each other. There is still love and inexplicable bonds. A strong man decides that a little boy is his brother and randomly cares for his employer. A little girl, Miette, randomly decides to help the strong man find his kidnapped little brother and becomes his sister. It would be sweet and hopeful if it were not for one plot point. A woman tries to sexually console the strong man, but because he has a child’s mind and is concerned about his young adopted family, he is oblivious to her advances. Miette is not. She is jealous and clearly has something else in mind. She does not feel a sisterly love for this strong man. There is a Luc Besson vibe (Leon: The Professional)-she wants to be his woman. He is asexual. Nothing inappropriate happens and yet…. Even in its moments of redemption, this world is wrong, rooted in death and vampiric impulses, and seems to be permanently broken. When Guillermo del Toro offers a world different from mine, it is rooted in an emotional reality that overlaps with ours. The City of Lost Children seems permanently broken and was not a joy to watch.