Just to be sure that the movie was as magical and fun as it seemed the first time I saw it, I had the opportunity to re-visit Amélie's incredible adventure (in fact, everyone's adventure) and the movie was even more striking than upon first viewing!
Technically, just about everyone can easily appreciate the virtuosity of the set-design and the camerawork, lighting included. Not many movies are as integrated as 'Amélie" not just visually, but from the audio track and soundtrack (by which I mean here, the musical accompaniments to the movie). Upon re-seeing it, the excellence of the editing and the pace really struck me. So we're looking at: outstanding inventiveness in Cinematogtraphy and visual efects; amazing integration of sounds-mix and soundtrack; an upbeat message, not without some moments of sadness; wonderful acting. That's quite a line-up iof winning attributes for a movie that didn't win a Golden boy!
The 'mermaid' subtext is interesting, the water-woman-undercrrrent (pardon the pun), the ties beween Priness Di, Amélie, Mother Theresa, the women working at Les deux magots café, etc...the idea of 'dedicating oneself to doing good deads'; a very 'feminine' esoteric concept that Google will help curious minds find out more about, and that no reviewers I've read have picked up on.
Lightweight? I'm not so sure how lightweight, but the playful tone and style do make for a satisfying morsel -on many levels!
As far as the language vs. subtitles issue goes, it's pretty obvious that a different language, even a different dialect within a language (hell, even an accwnt within a dialect!) can make quite difference in communication. The actual lingo of Paris (the original 'argot') has a pace and actual use of words that is completely unique - and while "Amélie" didn't use too much of the Parisien argot, the tone and pace were there - and the subtitles, while they were much better than usual, did have a bit of time keeping up!
"10 good American movies for every French one"? Interesting observation, how many French movies do you see, just out of cusiosity? And don't forget, what we see in the States is a very thin sliver of the movies produced in France. A more interesting comparison might be 'how many millions of dollars (or Euro's) are spent on dreadul movies each year?
Amélie for President!