The City of Lost Children [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of The City of Lost Children [VHS]
Movie Review: Should have been made in America
Summary: 1 Stars
This film was very confusing and boring. The dark tone of the scenery was depressing - hard to follow, I really think this should have been either colorful for an audience of children or more graphic for an adult audience. It's almost like the director wasen't sure which audience he wanted to please and doing so didn't please either one. Skip it.Movie Review: One of the few french films I actually like.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film actually sounds better in french... The dreamlike atmosphere and story is very interesting and entertaining. Granted... it does use hightly silly and improbably events to mesh the well badly synced plot at times. Like when the hydrant was hit by the car, triggered something else which triggered something else then here comes a flea to save the day. But its mostly tongue in cheek and you can see that they figured it as something good, not just a patch job. But o well it's still spiffy. Movie Review: A Hard Film to Love
Summary: 4 Stars
Jeunet (and Caro) have made some of the most extraordinarily graphically beautiful films of the last 20 years. "Amelie" virtually defines "charming" and is easily worth 5 stars (maybe 6). "A Very Long Engagement," "Delicatessen." even "Alien Resurrection" -- that's quite a body of work! This was the hardest of them all for me to love -- but I'm still working on it.Movie Review: An original and intriguing film weighed down by a too often illogical plot
Summary: 3 Stars
I had been dancing around this French film (with subtitles) for several months, unsure how I would react to it, but I finally took the plunge and booked my passage to The City of Lost Children (La Cit? des enfants perdus). Now I could sit here and ooh and aah all over the place about how beautiful and original this film is, but I have to give it to you straight: the story is almost completely illogical. This is one of your "most of what I learned about the film came from reading the plot summary" kind of movie. It's fascinating in its dark, fantastical way, of course, but I would really have liked to have a plot I could follow. The setting is unworldly - it's like they put Tim Burton, a couple of anime directors, Charles Dickens, and scores of German expressionists in a locked room and forced them to collaborate on the design of this world. Fortunately, the film does have one saving grace - young Judith Vittet. Not only does she turn in a masterful performance, she's the only buoy of sanity I could find in this ocean of craziness.
Basically, the film is about this strange man who steals children, hooks them up to machines, and steals their dreams because he is incapable of dreaming himself. His entourage consists of a number of annoying clones and a small army of humanoids who look like they're in the early stages of assimilation by the Borg. I don't understand why they depend on technology to see and hear, but I suspect it's just an excuse for the director to give us night-vision type shots every so often when they're out on the hunt for new little dreamers. At the same time, you also have a pair of Fagin-like Siamese twins running a racket of child thieves all over town. One of these kids, Miette (Vittet), teams up with One (Ron "The Beast" Perlman), a strongman who is desperate to save his little brother from the clutches of the dream-stealing guy. Along the way to that end, this unlikely duo encounters an underwater diver, trained fleas, and all sorts of weirdness.
The relationship between One and Miette is really the heart of the story. One (Perlman), I should mention, seems to be somewhat mentally challenged, making Miette the true grown-up in the relationship. Theirs is a bond much like an older brother to a younger sister, but I'm one of those who felt that the relationship really walked a fine line between something wholesome and something a little beyond the pale. They never crossed the line, mind you, but this part of the story may be suggestive to some viewers.
There is, fittingly enough, a dream-like character to the cinematography and story presentation - and, perhaps in that sense, it's OK that the plot doesn't always make sense. A tighter story line, though, would undoubtedly have made this otherwise lush and intriguing film more successful. I'm all for suspending my disbelief, but I really need to know what I'm suspending it for. The City of Lost Children, with its eye-catching visuals and superb soundtrack, is almost the total package - all it lacks is a more lucid plot.
Movie Review: Some Images Made Me Gasp, but as to the Plot...Sheesh
Summary: 2 Stars
This film looks just amazing, but the plot is a jumbled mess of ideas borrowed from other movies and stories and it does not follow through on its own premises. But was there ever a more hideous, striking film image than the one of Daniel Emilfork straight on while dreaming his nightmares? Stunning closeups.
It is a serious flaw in the film that the filmmakers had no moral compass. The hero (the strongman, One), under the influence of a drug, it's true, attacks the child heroine (Mirette). It's really way over the line to show this hulk slapping this little girl around repeatedly.
I don't agree with the reviewers who attacked the movie as portraying a sexual relationship between One and Mirette. That's reading a lot into it, and that reading does not seem justified. He is protective of her and is adopting her as a little sister, not as a sexual object.
Because of occasional weird and horrible violence, especially against a child, this is definitely not a movie for children.