Review of The Illusionist (2010) by Bancho — 01 Mar 2011

The Illusionist.

Initial Reaction: What eye bending trick will we see here?

Main Characters.

The Illusionist: He's a magician voiced by Jean-Claude Donda.

Alice: She's a young woman voiced by Elidh Rankin.

Plot Summary.

This is a tale about a magician trying to make a living off his magic in the United Kingdom in1959, but he's getting nowhere; he gets upstaged by a British band and their screaming fans.

But the next trip after that, he impresses a Alice, who tags along with him and becomes his helper.

The two of them head off to their next gig in Edinburgh, which doesn't bring in as much money as he was hoping for - so he gives other jobs a hand.

He tries his luck being an auto mechanic, then a store front model for women's perfume. But those jobs don't offer any more success than his magic act; what's he supposed to do.

SCORING.

Main Characters.

I get the Illusionist - he just wants to be successful at his craft, and I enjoyed some of his attempts to succeed.

But I do not get Alice. I still ask why she drops everything and goes with him in the first place. SCORE: 5.

Supporting Cast.

There are a bunch of odd characters; a really short hotel owner, a really grumpy head mechanic and that British band that drives young women crazy (in 1959). They are interesting, but most of them don't add much to the overall story. SCORE: 5.

Plot.

The story starts off great with the Illusionist's first performance, but after that, I felt the story grinds to a halt, topped off with an anticlimactic ending. SCORE: 2.

Originality.

Most films will talk about conflict and how it's dealt with - but watching this film makes me feel the writers just want to make the Illusionist wallow in suffering for more than an hour. SCORE: 2.

Violence Factor.

There's no violence whatsoever; all meeting are dealt with words, not firsts. SCORE: 8.

Other Moral Issues.

I still am asking: why does Alice go off with the Magician? Why does he take her under his wing? SCORE: 2.

Final Score (out of 60): 24 % Score: 40%.

I wonder: how did this film get nominated for Best Animated Picture? The story bored me with a relationship built on nothing.