Abigail: Le Pouvoir de l'Élue

The overall storyline and visual effects are pretty good, but it is unfortunately let down every time a character speaks.

The terribly unauthentic dubbing detracts so much that it's almost cringeworthy to watch.

Whilst the concept and direction of the story is really good, it could have been fleshed out so much more. Character development was also lacking or rushed as a result, with the dialogue feeling awkward or confusing throughout. Eddie Marsan and his character were the only ones saved of this. Sad to see the missed opportunities here though.

But if you can get past the dubbing/dialogue, then this really is worth watching.

"Abigail" is a Russian fantasy-adventure film with a good story and magnificent special effects. The director Aleksandr Boguslavskiy is absolutelly unknown for Western audiences and uses the surrealistic style of French directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet on "La cité des enfants perdus" (1995), a.k.a. "The City of Lost Children". The huge buildings are typical in Eastern Europe and the city recalls a guetto in World War II. The authorities look like nazi officers and the epidemic that closes the borders of the city recalls most of the societies with the COVID-19 pandemic in the present days. The magic is a twist in the storyline and the flying machine is original. In the end, "Abigail" is neither a masterpiece nor what the IMDb reviews describe, but an entertaining movie for fans of the genre. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Abigail e a Cidade Proibida" ("Abigail and the Forbidden City")

Good film, liked the over all look and style. BUT everyone in the film is clearly speaking english as speech matches mouth movements yet everyone is dubbed in annoyingly unrealistic voices that don't match their character at all. I don't understand why they do this I would much rather someone speaking English with their native accent than the weird disembodied voices they have, made the film difficult to watch and take seriously and spoiled it massively. Would have given up and switched off if kid didn't seem to be enjoying it.

The acting is terrible and so awkward. Chemistry between Abigail and Bale seems so forced. Love the Father's acting though. The rest just gives a really bad voice over vibe. Great effects, really thought that was beautiful. Plot flow could have been a lot better.

The plot itself lacked ingenuity ,, the script looked all over the place ,, really hard to follow at some scenes and the story just disconnected .. add to that I watched it with some weird voice-over ,, so even they were speaking english their lips movement looked like they were speaking russian or something... so that piled up on my misery.

The acting was another disaster !! I mean goodness me !! with all the money spent on the visual effects (which were really good) you'd think they would spare a few grands for at least a B list actors !! ... The only actor I knew was Eddie Marsan who was there for like 10 minutes ,,and that says A LOT ...

I think this was a nice try by the young russian lad, Aleksandr Boguslavskiy, he had a great opportunity but he totally missed... But I personally believe if the movie was all Russian movie, like script, cast and all it would have looked much better.