A reoccurring theme of my negative reviews is my attack on novelty. Just because a movie has unique, brilliant aspects doesn't make it a great film. It needs to use its assets and ideas to build its plot, world, and characters. It shouldn't go halfway. Yet so many times I've seen films declared as masterpieces when I felt they were hollow. The Illusionist is the best film to display my point. The Illusionist's animation is beautiful, detailed, colorful, and stylized. But when you judge it on writing, The Illusionist is garbage.Yes, The Illusionist lacks dialog, but that doesn't mean elements of plot and character aren't present. These are people, and there is a story to be told. The main character suffers from the problem of the starving artist, following his dream even when the world barely cares. He has an interesting, noble motivation...until he decides to adopt a daughter. I'm sorry, but this character is a complete ditz. She looks like she should be in her tweens or early teens, but has no understanding of the world around her. She believes in the magic of cheap parlor tricks. She seems to have no idea of the illusionist's poverty. Yet he showers her with gifts he could never afford, with no awareness on her part. She's immature, and he only acts as an enabler.The illusionist could have provided her a humble home, with simple pleasures any child can enjoy. He even gets a solid job! After working hours upon hours on odd jobs, he finally finds one where his skills at magic earn him a decent living. Happy ending? Wrong! He finds the job demeaning, and quits! And without enough money to lavish the young girl like she's a princess, he just leaves her with her boyfriend. Hope they don't break up!This is a sacrifice? BS. This is giving up on someone you supposedly love. Its shameless. Its refusing to grow up, and take responsibility for your actions. In real life, he'd be a deadbeat dad. But we are emotional creatures. And with the right visuals, the right music, and the right angle, we can be believe he's some misunderstood genius, who only wants best for his little girl. I could not care, or even respect, these two characters. It doesn't help this film is horribly paced. Its too slow. There's too little plot. There's not enough personality. And I don't hate silent films! Heck, The Triplets of Belleville was fun, and it was by the same directer! It feels like a 2 hour plus sit...and its only 79 minutes long.I love animation. I'm even giving this movie a star for its wonderful beauty. I can't fall for this film's illusion. It sucks.

There is a song by Madrugada called 'I'm Life's Wonderful Way of Letting You Down' and this film reminded me of it. The story is a simple enough tale of an aging magician whose career is not far from being over. He finds odd jobs here and there while looking after a girl who followed him to Edinburgh. He takes her in and buys her pretty much anything she wants, mostly clothes. But in the end, he realizes there is no future for them; he isn't her father, nor her mentor and since he has a hard time finding work to support both of them, he decides to leave her in the care of a younger man, with whom she (apparently) fell in love. And that's that.'L'Illusioniste' is also a film to fall in love with, displaying the most beautiful, authentic animations and a story that is as much pure as it is simple. There's some dialogue in it, though hardly any of it is actually audible, but one can easily get the gist of it - it's never complicated. What ís complicated, are the lives of these two people. They live alongside the world and they are more or less forced to live life by the day. As do many other characters in their surroundings, the hotel they stay at isn't called 'Little Joe Hotel' for nothing. It will be clear by now that this is not a very happy film (even though there are plenty of optimistic and humorous touches that will put a smile on your face), but for that I'll refer you to that song title at the beginning of my review...This is an honest tale, both in story and animations, that will slowly but surely get under your skin. It did with me, anyway. Highly recommended, but maybe - probably - not for everyone.10 out of 10.

I bought this DVD a few months ago, and as things happened didn't get to see it until yesterday. It's a brilliant piece of animation that's not only based on a Jacques Tati script, but practically has him casted at the lead. To be more precise the aging magician leading the story is an animated incarnation of Tati's Mr. Hulot. The animated character moves like him speaks like him (that is hardly ever) and even thinks like him. For any fun of Tati this is simply sheer magic. The story itself is not the most original, but the way it's being told is so wonderful it feels like an original. It's definitely a bit of animation with a soul. Both comic and moving like most of the great comedians are. If you have the opportunity - don't miss this one.

I really liked "The Triplets of Belleville", so I decided to watch this movie. I have to say though, that even when the animation was captivating (beautiful landscapes, and a lot of details), the plot was not in my opinion. Maybe it is because of the fact that it is a semi-silent movie, and those are not my favorites though. The score though was great, it helps to stay focused in the movie, even in the absence of dialogue.I think my main issue, was the sense of hopelessness after watching the movie. As a reviewer in Amazon wrote, when you finish watching the movie, you just feel like "if you just got punched in the soul".However, I think if the movie can transmit such strong feelings, it definitely is fulfilling the purpose of transmitting a message.Score (7)