Rêves d'androïde

I recently bought 'A Tree of Palme' as I was interested in the idea that it was an adaptation of the Pinocchio story. It was amazing to watch with beautiful animation and music. I enjoyed it because even though Palme (a mechanical puppet) does not achieve his ultimate goal in the film it still leaves you with a sense of fulfilment.

I must say after reading many peoples reviews of it and continuously comparing it with the works of myazaki and 'Akira' it highlighted to me that point that it is a difficult film to grasp. I think its a shame that people aren't open to new ideas and interpretations and are forever putting something that is genuinely brilliant down just because its not revolutionary or a big box office grosser.

It is a film that opens your eyes to that world but only if you care to look.

I simply cannot understand how so many people can dislike "A Tree of Palme". Allow me to explain.

For one, people complain that the pacing is too slow. Get over it. Some films happen to have slow pacing, and the pacing in "A Tree of Palme" served the plot excellently and with good taste. I can't imagine "A Tree of Palme" being any better with faster pacing; the pacing allowed it to have a "slice of life" feel, while at the same time immersing you in an alien world and a worthy, action-packed adventure.

Furthermore, I hardly think the plot is convoluted as so many suggest. I had no trouble following any aspect of the story. I'll admit that there are many anime films out there with plots that run circles around my head, but this wasn't one of them. It all made perfect sense to me -- symbolism and all. Perhaps I'm either insane or smarter than most. I don't know. All I know was that I truly enjoyed the plot and had no issues with it.

I also very much liked all the characters. That's a rare pleasure I get from movies these days, especially given my extremely jaded nature. With a combination of good writing, great cinematography, and great music, I was able to feel everything the characters felt; when they were happy, so was I; when they were sad, so too did sadness well up from within me. Only the best films can achieve such a goal (should it even *be* a goal, given most of today's trash films).

And then there is the pure artistry in virtually every shot of the film. My god, "A Tree of Palme" is beautiful -- an artistic triumph in every sense. Immersion is practically guaranteed. And the CG? Perfectly integrated. Absolutely perfect. I never felt as if I was looking at CG -- the gorgeous cinematography and haunting music saw to that. It also helped that the modern, intricate CG was sparingly used, unlike so many of today's films. The CG was as CG *should* be.

In the end, "A Tree of Palme" is an amazing film and simply doesn't deserve the terrible wrap so many people levy upon it. It reminds me so much of the early days of film, when special effects weren't everything and pacing was much slower. If you're a fan of film, you owe it to yourself to see "A Tree of Palme".

Once upon a time, 14 Years ago i went with my buddies to my first anime con, Big apple anime fest 2003. There we saw the premiere of a movie called "A Tree of Palme". it was messed up and terrible. 14 years later i thought i'd give it a watch again. It is still messed up and terrible. The end

Amazing world building in various levels. There's so much to like here: pinocchio, memory tree, various tribes and locations, a Dune/Nausicaa style environment, search for tree sap (like the spice from Dune) and much more.

This is one of the best looking anime features I've run across. The animation is glorious, the design and the world created are rich in images and wonders to see. The trouble is that the movie is a snail paced retelling of Pinocchio that even at two hours and sixteen minutes doesn't tell the whole story, there are gaps between sequences that leave you puzzling how we got from A to B. The film is suppose to be a very personal project by the director who worked on it for ten years, but there is such a thing as being too close to a project and in this case he was much too close. I can see how the lack of complete explanation might appeal to some people but for me it was more bewildering than intriguing, the film didn't make a lot of sense and took forever not making it. (Visuals are a ten out of ten, the rest is up to you, I give it a five over all simply because the visuals are so fantastic it makes watching it interesting at least for a majority of it)