Le tableau

The Painting (2011)

If you like animated films in general, and like inventive ones in particular, see this. I think it's good on many levels—the story, the style, the feeling. Even the sentimental ending.

But my taste for animation varies wildly. I loved "Monsters, Inc." and hated "Pocahontas." Anime leaves me cold. It isn't enough to dazzle me with animation tricks, nor to play with children's stories in inventive ways on screen.

So this story works with lots of familiar (too familiar) tropes—types of friends, heroes, problems that we know well. The animation (French) is different than both Pixar and Disney styles we know well, and also different than, say Wallace and Gromit (which wasn't American). But it isn't self-sustaining. I mean, it's a little constrained and polite, even when it is taking visual chances. It's all very "nice" all the time, and that goes with the friendly quality of the movie, too.

I sound like a curmudgeon. Not so (I think)! But I tried and tried to get absorbed and just got, well, bored. Sad to say. Judge for yourself. I will say that I think you need to give it a half an hour or so to get into some of the range of the film. But then, if it hasn't hooked you, it probably won't.

For the past two years, animated films have seemed to take a dive in both quality and execution. The narrative structure taken in some of the films like Pixar's Brave and Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians sound good on paper but when formally implemented onto the screen, many are left wanting more. In Jean-François Laguionie's Le Tableau or how many will come to know it as, The Painting, animation is back in the forefront with an imaginative and incredibly accomplished tale of wonder, love, and revelation.

The Painting tells the story of a world unlike any other, a painting on a wall in a painter's home. There are three types of figures living inside the painting: "Alldunns" are figures that have been completely drawn with color and precision, that live in a castle and have declared themselves superior beings in the wake of the painter's absence. "Halfies" are figures that were left incomplete in color who have been barred from entering the castle. And living in the outer woods near the border of the frame are the "Sketchies", rough outlines of beings that are hunted by the Alldunns for mere sport.

The film is told from our lovely Lola's perspective, a Halfie whose best friend Claire, also a Halfie, who has fallen in love with an Alldunn, Ramo. When their love is discovered and tragedy strikes, Roma, Lola, and a Sketchie named Quill are driven to the perimeter of the painting where they believe their creator lies. When they leave the painting, their wonder and imagination doesn't live up to the reality that is in store.

As the film evolves moment-to-moment, and presents breathtaking animation, I couldn't help be in complete awe of what I was witnessing. Not only does the film breathe new life into a genre in desperate need of oxygen, it sets the bar high for all genres, both for children and adults, to challenge themselves with each new frame they present. It's pure magic on-screen.

Le Tableau feels like Toy Story if it had been directed by Terrence Malick in an Italian opera that was written by William Shakespeare. It's so profound and moving that your heart fills to the brim with adoration and marvel. Jean-François Laguionie and co-writer Anik Leray treat the viewers with respect, never being fearful to ask the tough questions and not play us as if we're all adolescents. The Painting challenges the inner-child in all of us to grow up. The depiction of Venice alone with orange, yellows and the brightest colors you can think of is one of the finest creations of the year.

The Painting is transcendental and unlike anything I've seen this year. It's not only the Best Animated films of the year but it's one of the best pictures of the year. Period. GKIDS continues to prove how they will become the quality-equal to Pixar Studios as they continue to push the boundaries and trust their innovation as filmmakers. Oscar should not think of voting on any category without seeing The Painting first. A true knock out!

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This animated movie is a good surprise. With an innovative setting - a painting, it is filled with the intention to speak about art and creation. The animation by itself area celebration of the old handmade classics vs the new 3D-computerized trend. It reminds me a bit of "Le roi et l'oiseau" in some ways. Plus, of course, a few well-known painters through different figures. That common theme, art and creation, is kept intellegently the whole movie - thanks to the painting first and then the search of the painter, and, thus, the meaning of a piece and its future. Fortunately, the movie doesn't stop there and adds a layer for the adults in depicting a layer society - here based on the care you were getting from the painter - not too far from ours. Finally, there is adventure, that makes it a movie for everyone.

Not everything is perfect though and I do agree with some reviewers pointing some weak moments (I would also have loved some "Alice in Wonderland" crazyness) and weak characters that pales in front of their quest. Would have ended it before too.

But these weaknesses are not that big they will prevent you enjoying this movie.

Personal Rating: 6.6/10

I'd like to give credit where it's due, the art style in this movie is simply magnificent, with the wonderfully imaginative Jean-François Laguionie at the helm. This film explores many worlds each connected yet stunningly different. It was truly a feast for the eyes.

I want to break down my rating further:

• Style: 10/10, I simply fell in love with the whimsical yet purposeful nature of the artistic style.
• Score: 7.5/10, Repetitious in many instances but overall pleasant to the ears and motivated nicely throughout the movie.
• Story: 5/10, The story is where this movie falls flat for me.

Let's uncover the story a little more.

• The theme was executed well throughout the movie, but it had to beat you over the head with it, it wasn't even 10 minutes in before a character expressed word for word the theme, lazy writing.
• There's a lack of solid motivations behind actions, with the plot only moving forward because of conversations like this: "we should find the painter","Maybe we should, I've been wanting to for a while." That's it, then they just go off on an outer world expedition.
• It was as if we were forcibly being spoon-fed throughout this movie though we could've very easily held the spoon for ourselves.
• There was much dialogue that was repeating what we could see in the frame, show don't tell.

Now the following is a bit of further nitpicking, though it could be because I watched this movie in English and not the original French. Because of this, I'm not subtracting points because of the following:

• Sound, The dialogue most of the time was loud on the right side, echoey on the left. With sound effects and score being perfectly balanced, making the poorly mixed dialogue sound even worse.
• Speaking about dialogue, much of it was on the nose and could have easily been put in a more interesting pleasant way.

Overall this movie is a wonderful journey of artistic expression, visually stimulating, just paired with a cold porridge-like screenplay.

This is a very earnest but fun film which uses paintings to make a compelling, if also fairly vague, social statement. I got it because I was intrigued by the connections it would make between paintings and animation, and thought my kids would find this interesting. I later realized that the film's main premise, that paintings are "alive" like animation, and can even escape their canvas, was actually not new, but lifted directly from The King and the Mockingbird-a dependence which is not surprising given that The Painting was produced in France and Belgium. While that film used paintings to comment on the medium of animation, The Painting delves deeper into the painting itself, which it uses as an allegory for society. One premise is that paintings are a snapshot of an active world, which is moving behind the scenes; the other is that paintings are strictly hierarchical: some characters are fully colored ("all dones"); others are still in need of some coloring ("halfies"); and, at the bottom, are the mere sketches. The idea is that the painting is unfinished, but one could equally imagine that certain layers/characters have been abandoned and overpainted. The movie is, at its heart, a morality tale speaking out against the abuse of power by some of the "all dones," especially against the sketches, which could be applied to many situations; the idea that the halfies and sketches efforts to find the painter to complete themselves is misguided sends a much more ambiguous and mixed message. In any case, my kiddos enjoyed it and talked about it a lot afterwards.