SnoopyStyle In 1959 Paris, Tatischeff's old magic tricks with his vicious chubby white rabbit are not exciting the crowds anymore. He is slowly losing jobs and working in worst venues. Performing in London, he accepts an invitation to a remote Scottish island. He befriends Alice. He moves on to Edinburgh and is followed by Alice who thinks he possesses real magic.There is a melancholy feel throughout this movie punctuated by moments of charming light comedy. The magician's world is slowly fading away. It does take something out of you. The animation is old fashion. It is very touching and full of lost. This is a sad poignant movie.

Johan Forslund Just like everyone else, I consider the animation to be absolutely perfect. The film is so wonderfully French, while the colors and environments makes me think of environments in Pelle Svanslös (a Swedish film which is much better than you might think).The film is also beautiful in the way that it is not aware that it is a movie - the actions takes place and you just happen to look at it. They are not trying to entertain you, they simply live their lives.What prevents the film from perfection is that the lack of speech feels forced (to some extent). It's really wonderful that they speak so little, but in some cases it feels unnatural and strange that no one utters any words. It's like the movie gave itself a rule not to speak, a rule that should rather have been a guideline.

Donald F 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.

punishmentpark 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.