The Illusionist: A Movie Review

It sucks. Watch The Prestige instead.

End of review.

Wait... there's another movie called The Illusionist?


Okay, now this looks promising!

I put The Illusionist on hold at the library at the beginning of the year amidst the hubbub surrounding the Academy Awards... and then I forgot about it. Well, it finally became available last week... Boy, was it worth that long wait, which I didn't mind at all because I'd forgotten about it.

Sounds like damning with false praise? Probably, but that'd be a mistake. This movie was superb.

The story's pretty simple - a down-on-his-luck stage magician crosses paths with a young Scottish girl. The two make their way to the big city, where he tries to make a living beyond his stage magics, and she... um... buys pretty dresses.

I get the feeling I'm not selling this movie very well. Lemme tell you what I liked so much about it:

FIRST, it's one of the most stylistically brilliant movies I've seen in a while. The animation reminds me of some of the classic Disney cartoons (specifically 101 Dalmations - there's a lot of similar linework). In addition to it's retro feel, though, the animation excels at telling the story - which is done almost exclusively through visual cues.

There is a bit of voicework, but it's mostly incidental/environmental. It adds to the FEEL of the movie, even though it's pretty much unintelligible. There are scraps of English, scraps of French, and a couple of languages that may or may not actually exist. Still, the characters' emotions and intentions are never in doubt.

You CAN watch the movie with subtitles, but... why?

SECOND and most important, The Illusionist is genuine, touching, and heartwarming in a way most movies can't achieve without excess cheese. If you've ever seen the first twenty minutes of Up (also known as "The Good Part of the Movie"), you know somewhat what to expect. The difference between The Illusionist and Up, though, is that the former is able to maintain that level of emotional intensity and sincerity for 80 full minutes.

Also, The Illusionist throws in more than a few heart-wrenching sucker punches.

It's a great movie. Easily one of the best cartoons I've ever seen. Heck, I almost don't even want to CALL it a "cartoon," because that makes it sound childish. Check it out.