Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This film is only 1hr 20min long but it felt like I'd been sat watching it all day. Talk about dull. Yes, the animation is pretty and it's nice to look at but that's just about the only thing going for it.It moves at a tediously slow pace, taking an eternity for any kind of development in the storyline. Perhaps this is because they needed to pad out such a shallow story to make it into a movie? It could have been over and done with in 15 minutes, instead the viewer is made to sit through one pointless scene after another and then another...I found myself dozing off 2 or 3 times during the film, and as soon as it finished I was out like a light. Anybody who can stay awake after watching this can consider it an achievement.

This is one of those movies I don't know what to say about. Visually, it's one of the most beautiful animated features I've seen, it's a masterpiece for the eyes and its animation is exquisite. The plot is beautiful and sentimental but I felt it was a little pointless.This is a good film, but it's disappointing. It tells a story flawlessly without almost any words but it can't avoid being boring sometimes and senseless. The adult animation genre really has better things to offer, but I'm sure that only a few can be is as deep and cute as this movie. Remember: This is NOT for kids.

I recall the scene where Alice reads a note left for her by the Illusionist and the note said - "The magician does not exist" - I believe that is correct. And for me this is what the entire story is about.The Illusionist did all he could to make Alice happy and as long as she was poorly dressed she was happy to cater to the Illusionist and the other lot of washed up performers living in that apartment building. But when the Illusionist gives her too much it all becomes magic to her. The Illusionist is working himself to death to keep the magic in her life. Then the handsome guy across the street gets her attention - more magic in her life.The other performers are sad and hopeless, all the magic is gone in their lives and the Illusionist cannot be the magic in Alice's life. She still see's the magic in her life but the magician does not exist! His note fails to open her eyes - her life now is an illusion.

I heard of this film when I read TheLittleSongbird's review of it and she gave it a slightly more favourable review for it than mine. I watched the trailer and upon browsing my LoveFilm Player iPad app, I saw that this film could be viewed instantly. After having watched it, I was more satisfied with it than the trailer in spite of some aspects not meeting my expectations (most notably the rare use of dialogue, which I was expecting more of).The storyline is pretty basic where a French illusionist/magician flees France to travel to Scotland and befriends a young woman who cleans the pub he performs at. His tricks were a delight to see and some of them raised a chuckle. The vehicles and characters' clothing truly depicted the film's 1950s setting as well as some rock-and-roll music. Some of the character animation was a tad flickery and sudden, but it had an outstanding look and I liked their body language and gestures as methods of communication that surpass the dialogue, which is sparse and hard to decipher at times. Further to the rock-and-roll music, the majority of the background music had hints of beauty, charm and authenticity but one or two pieces were used more than once, which made it slightly repetitive at times and the opera singer looked clichéd with her Viking-style hat. Nevertheless, the sound effects were realistic. The backgrounds were beautiful. While those set in the streets of Scotland were intricate, the rural ones were more straightforwardly designed. There are some intense and poignant moments as well such as a man attempting to hang himself until a knock on the door prevents him from doing so and the ending where the magician leaves Scotland and the lights in the street switch off from building to building until the theatre switches off its lights. Overall, this rare find was worth a look with its character designs, backgrounds and music as its brightest spots. 8/10.