Leap!

Something tells me there's more to the film than just a wannabe ballerina setting out to achieve her dreams. I could be very wrong but I believe his to be a personal accomplishment for French director/screenplay writer Eric Summer who comes from Brittany himself, where this story starts at an orphanage in 1879.

Enlisting the talent of French animator who was partly responsible for one of my favourite animated movies, Belleville Rendez-vous, Éric Warin sits alongside Summer in the director's chair and what they give us is a delightful underdog story.

The focus of the story is on Félicie, voiced by Elle Fanning, an ambitious yet rebellious orphan girl who dreams of becoming a dancer, constantly attempting to flee the orphanage to Paris, in pursuit of her ambition.

She's not alone in either dream-chasing or escaping the orphanage. Victor, voiced by Dane DeHaan, an obvious admirer of hers also wishes to leave to become a famous inventor, so the two of them embark on an adventure finally reaching Paris and with various strokes of good fortunate, end up where they both want to be.

The voices don't necessarily match their characters, DeHaan being far to old (apologies, 30 isn't old, but...) to voice a teenage orphan. Pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen does a fine job of voicing broken ballerina, Odette, but I'm most impressed with Sia's music video dancing star, Maddie Ziegler, voicing the spoilt, stuck-up Camille.

It has all the ingredients of a simple yet pleasing underdog story with some impressive and enticing animation. The dances themselves are superbly gracefully and the details are brilliant. There's troublesome emotions, difficult choices and quite a few triumphs with a clear message of never giving up and what ever you do, do it with heart.

It's predictable but that's forgivable being a children's film. It's loaded with touching gestures and typical twists that make the film memorable but is equally loaded with unnecessary silliness and feels a little rushed in places, possibly to keep children's attention.

It's not a musical but the soundtrack that accompanies the film really stands out with some great tracks from Magical Thinker, Chantal Kreviazuk and Camila Mora. Klaus Badelt does a graceful and enchanting score that does well to stand alone from Tchaikovsky's ballet greats of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.

It's good sign not hearing any disturbances for the young audience and my God-Daughter seemed to enjoy it giving a little dance at the end. It's far from perfect but there's some great scenes and you can see the effort was put in. It's good light-hearted entertainment for the whole family.

Running Time: 8 The Cast: 6 Performance: 7 Direction: 7 Story: 8 Script: 7 Creativity: 8 Soundtrack: 9 Job Description: 9 The Extra Bonus Points: 0

69% 7/10

I have no idea why they started the film as they did. The starting scene is just nothing new, childish, and makes the film seem for younger audiences. I suspect that someone told them they needed to start with an exciting scene with lots of action, so this is what happened... Nevermind the beginning, once the kids get to Paris things start to shape up and an actual narrative emerges. Nothing too revolutionary here, in terms of story or plot, but solid work.

To preface my review let me say that I'm a 71 year old man who does not usually enjoy animated movies any longer. But I took my 7-year-old son to see Leap today and I really enjoyed it.

The story is light, surely to be appreciated by young girls. My son was restless through the second half, only rejoining the action when the little boy character was on screen.

What I enjoyed most was the graphics that were very good. The scenes were great. I lived in Paris for 3 years so anything in that city brings back fond memories. Both the body language and facial expressions of the characters were spot on. I chuckled many times through the movie as I saw how wonderful a job the animators did.

I enjoyed the story too. Who wouldn't enjoy a story with a positive outcome. It was certainly unrealistic but still fun.

A story about an orphaned girl and her aspiring inventor friend escaping the orphanage to pursue their dreams. Decent, enjoyable, cliché with a hint of Karate Kid in it. I am quite happy to watch it from the beginning to its very end, but only one thing I can't stand, which is Carly Rae Jepsen's voice. I imagined Odette wouldn't sound like that. It's completely unexpected, not in a good way. It lacks passion and charisma of one who used to be the prima, the best ballerina. Her job at portraying Odette is the only thing that holds me back from re-watching this film, which is such a shame because the story and the animation are worth watching twice.

Tired of watching modern dance movies that has you say: Another one of Hollywood street dancer groups with all its acrobatics that must have come from America's got talent aiming for Hollywood that tosses aside the traditional dance of Ballet?

Produced at L'Atelier Animation in Montreal, Canada, Ballerina (2016) is majestic at all levels from the animation to the story itself.

A basic story of a young orphaned girl Félicie (Elle Fanning) who dreams to become a ballerina leaves with her friend Victor (Dane DeHaan) who also has a dream that of becoming a famous inventor, both go to Paris to meet their destiny.

What makes this a beautiful animation is that the story is not bogged by irrelevant metaphors or irony that distracts from the story that would have us distracted to the relevance of the movie based on something that could happen anywhere such as achieving one's goal. One does not say during the film that this scene is ridiculous that it diverts us from the message.

A success indeed.

First of all, the story itself. Set back in the 1800's where Paris is growing and where all hope is possible and notwithstanding the fact that Félicie (Elle Fanning) will take the identity of another person Camille Le Haut (Maddie Ziegler) is not new in the move world. Yet, the story progresses logically to have her be discovered as a fraud. What Merante (Terrence Scammell) sees in Félicie when he discovers the truth is what he sees in himself, one with passion. As a fact when he says to Camille and Felicie why they dance, in his harshness in his selection of candidates lies his humanity. He doesn't insult Camille but asks her why she dances?

Here we have the theme: Are we born to dance or do we become dancers that can be applied in all aspects of society? Are we born with a gift or do we become the gift?

Secondly, the choreography is absolutely amazing. It compares with all the acrobatics seen on America's got talent or in movies such as Rocky Balboa. Remember his training against this Russian guy? We see two types of training, the natural versus the mechanical training using modern equipment.

What about the competitive choreography between the two girls? Superbe!

If the film gave me shivers three times then I admit to the success of the film animation to have struck a chord in me. And, if my grandchild was able to relate to his life one scene which was the union of Félicie and as Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen) and which has also brought me back to when I bought tickets to the Ballet then I consider this animation a true marvel to which I give 10/10.