The Illusionist
So I watched The Illusionist last night. I thought it was rather well-done fluff, but still fluff. The acting seemed a bit stilted, and the story was rather cliche, but as a fairy tale type of story, I think it was pretty good. I mean, if the bar for fluffy fairy tales was set at this level, I think I'd be a rather happy camper.
I agree with Jack's assessment, that it's unfortunate the two movies came out at about the same time, because even though they're both about Victorian-era magicians, they're very different movies, and shouldn't be compared to each other. I'm inclined to agree: the tone, setup, plot, and substance of each film is completely different, they only share setting (and that by accident). Well, OK, the tone isn't completely different, but The Illusionist is shifted significantly more towards the "drama" end of the spectrum than The Prestige (which was more towards the "suspense" end). The Illusionist is a fairy tale with a happy ending, whereas The Prestige is a thought experiment wrapped in a bitter rivalry that ends on a rather sobering note. I certainly prefer one type of story to the other, but neither is objectively better. Well, actually... now that I think about it, I think the acting was better in The Prestige, but The Illusionist had more creative visual storytelling.
Anyway, I didn't find it nearly as thought-provoking as The Prestige, but still worth watching for its own sake. Once again, they're very different movies that happen to share a setting, so the temptation to compare them to each other is rather strong. Also, I want to know how the fuck my nameless coworker found The Prestige to be boring, but thought The Illusionist was amazing; that just makes no fucking sense.
I agree with Jack's assessment, that it's unfortunate the two movies came out at about the same time, because even though they're both about Victorian-era magicians, they're very different movies, and shouldn't be compared to each other. I'm inclined to agree: the tone, setup, plot, and substance of each film is completely different, they only share setting (and that by accident). Well, OK, the tone isn't completely different, but The Illusionist is shifted significantly more towards the "drama" end of the spectrum than The Prestige (which was more towards the "suspense" end). The Illusionist is a fairy tale with a happy ending, whereas The Prestige is a thought experiment wrapped in a bitter rivalry that ends on a rather sobering note. I certainly prefer one type of story to the other, but neither is objectively better. Well, actually... now that I think about it, I think the acting was better in The Prestige, but The Illusionist had more creative visual storytelling.
Anyway, I didn't find it nearly as thought-provoking as The Prestige, but still worth watching for its own sake. Once again, they're very different movies that happen to share a setting, so the temptation to compare them to each other is rather strong. Also, I want to know how the fuck my nameless coworker found The Prestige to be boring, but thought The Illusionist was amazing; that just makes no fucking sense.