Watching Sylvain Chomet's animated story of a down-and-out magician and the girl that he enchants feels like watching your parent flip pages in a storybook as a child; it has a magical twinge and an aftertaste of nostalgia, but you also are drifting into sleep near the end. But don't be fooled—this is not a children's story. Despite the fable-like tone and dreamy animation, the film addresses issues of unemployment, disenchantment, and the reality of growing up.
""The Illusionist"" (L'illusionniste) follows the story of an elderly man in the late 1950s who is an entertainer of a dying breed. As young rock stars eclipse his appeal, he is forced to take gigs in more obscure and fringe establishments. He finally finds himself in a pub off the coast of Scotland, entertaining drunk villagers as they celebrate the recent arrival of electricity to their island.
That is where he meets Alice, a young girl who is enchanted by his illusions and believes that the tricks he conjures are real magic. They soon bond despite their language barrier, and when the magician leaves the island Alice stows away and follows him to other cities. Their father-daughter relationship is established as they live in a hotel for stage performers of other dying arts, along with the magician's fiery-tempered rabbit.
Alice's love of magic quickly becomes too stressful for the magician, as he is forced to take night jobs to avoid poverty and supply the girl with lavish gifts, as well as maintain the illusion that magic is real. As time goes on, Alice grows up, falls in love, and begins to move on with her life. ""The Illusionist"" no longer is enmeshed in a web of deceit, and they both emerge with a firmer sense of reality.
The film has several moments of good-natured humor and simple misunderstandings (mostly due to the ever-present rabbit) and is stylistically picturesque, but it couldn't really be described as an entertaining piece. It moves slowly and the gentle plot makes the rising and falling action feel more like a kiddie coaster than a real ride. The film has no dialogue, save for grunts and crowd chatter, which is initially very touching and portrays a humanistic quality, but loses its unique appeal after the first half hour or so.
But that is just one woman's humble opinion—""The Illusionist"" stood in the spotlight this past Sunday during the Academy Awards, as it was nominated for best animated feature film. Although the film was eclipsed by ""Toy Story 3,"" it received strong support from critics for combining themes that are both sweet and melancholy. ""The Illusionist"" is similar in style to Sylvain Chomet's first work Oscar-nominated work, ""The Triplets of Belleville"" (Les Triplettes de Belleville), a French class staple that is animated in the same fashion.
One of the most impressive things about ""The Illusionist"" is its beautiful, yet simple, watercolor style of the animation. The charming, hand-drawn cartoon harkens back to the days of ""101 Dalmatians"" or ""Lady and the Tramp."" It is a refreshing break from bombardments of 3D images and all-too-real characters common in modern animation. Featuring sweeping panoramic views of Edinburgh next to dreary portraits of city streets, the animation is artfully done and adds needed flavor to the movie as a whole.
So although this isn't a story for children, or even really for the child-at-heart, any appreciator of quality animation will enjoy ""The Illusionist."" It is certainly a breath of fresh air in a business dominated by Pixar and Disney, even if it is slower than most. To catch ""The Illusionist"" in lieu of its Oscar buzz, it will be showing at Sundance Cinema 608 through the week.
