If your only notion of a French cartoon is the smooching skunk Pepe Le Pew, wait until you get a whiff of the refinement of “The Illusionist.” As far from “Loony Tunes” high camp as you can get, this evocative tale of a stage magician’s vanishing way of life in late-1950s Europe deserves the Oscar nomination it received. Like Pixar’s high-energy, computer-generated blockbuster “Toy Story 3,” its biggest competition in this year’s best animated feature film category, “The Illusionist” has tremendous heart. But the similarities end there. Today’s low-key specialty piece is told through gorgeous traditional “cel” (hand-drawn) animation and relies on almost no verbal dialogue — though there is profound unspoken communication.

Adapted from a script by Jacques Tati, the late French filmmaker, “The Illusionist” comes off the easel of his fellow countryman. Sylvain Chomet is the director, writer, animator and musician behind one of the most witty and original feature cartoons of the last decade, 2003’s “The Triplets of Belleville.”

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