User reviews

Being a lifelong fan of animation and ballet, 'Ballerina' seemed very appealing to me. Plus who doesn't love an underdog/person who wants to succeed at something they love against adversity story.

While not up there with my favourite animated films, or one of my favourite films of 2016, 'Ballerina' is nonetheless charming with a lot of delights. It will delight the younger crowd, but fellow ballet fans will also be charmed and there should be enough for adults to find value. 'Ballerina' is much more than a film for "little girls" or "just for kids" and does a good job telling a type of story that would be relatable to anybody.

Coming from somebody who overcame disabilities and bullying and wanted to sing professionally and get training and experience, it took a long time but I got there and have not looked back, 'Ballerina' clicked with me.

Of course 'Ballerina' isn't immune to flaws. The story is very familiar and does get predictable, while the characters are very likable but slightly skim-surface archetypes. However, this may seem very nit-picky and can easily be ignored by people and only problems for the toughest of critics.

Aside from these, there were also reservations with some of the soundtrack and one voice cast member. The music is often beautiful and infectious, with some genuine enchantment, but could have done with more classical music choices and less pop. A good deal of the pop tunes are very catchy, but more Tchaikovsky would have suited the film better and been more dynamic and a few others grate. Dane DeHaan doesn't sound right as Victor and doesn't fit, sounding too mature for a character clearly intended to be much younger, either he should have tried to sound younger and more boyish or the character should have been voiced by somebody in his late-teens.

However, the animation is very good, often excellent, especially in the beautifully studied and meticulous background details and the intricate and graceful choreography that synchronises with the music very well and shows animators that have clearly done their homework. As said, the soundtrack does mostly work, while the script makes a real attempt to appeal to both children and adults (being a family film) and, with a nice mix of humour, pathos and life values and never being over-complicated or childish, it does succeed.

The story, even with the familiarity and predictability, goes at a neat pace and as well as having a lot of charm and heart the messaging never comes over as preachy and very much valuable. It is also easy to see why anybody would find it inspiring and easy to relate to, as a young adult both were very easy for me. Even though archetypal, the characters are still likable, the title character has her flaws but it is easy to quickly warm to her. The voice acting, DeHaan aside, is strong, with Elle Fanning and Carly Rae Jensen bringing emotion and spirit to their characters and Maddie Ziegler stealing the show.

In summary, a familiar film but a very charming one and one to be seen without prejudice. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Well, I praise a lot, particularly the European animations for preserving the 2D animation. That does not mean they lack behind in 3D format. The recent film 'The Little Prince' was the perfect example of a quality 3D animation outside Hollywood. Pars with Disney, Pixar standards. Technically, as well as the story contents. But the quantities are very less and also making it a bit expensive. So they usually prefer producing it in the English language for the wider/international market, keeping North America particularly in mind. This is a French English-language film that co-produced by Canada.

This is a nice film, that particularly targets little kids and mostly the girl audience to inspire Ballerina. Cute characters and scenes, but very familiar story. Shares lots of similarities with 'August Rush', except the field of interest. I am not an expert or know all about Ballet, but some of the parts involving them were turned me off. I know the gravitation force is irrelevant in animation since they're not real world to comply with science, but maybe I'm being an adult and knowing that stuff might have influenced me to think that way. It reminds me I'm really an adult, though this film should be watched as a kid despite whatever you are. However, nothing affected me from enjoying it.

It sets in the 80s of the 19th century France. At the time when Eiffel Tower and Statue of Libery were on the construction, a poor orphan girl named Felicie escapes orphanage with another boy to pursue her dream to be a ballerina. Then they arrive in Paris, and very soon they find their separate ways to achieve the goals. Not all smooth sail, especially for her. So she takes the opportunity that comes her way, even after knowing it was wrong to do.

❝You have something that she can only dream of: passion!❞

From there, with all the complications tailing her, how far she could go to make her dream come true. Which also includes the amount of dedication put on her undertaking to meet the expectations of her trainer, rivals and many others. And to show the world the interest is not simply based on enthusiasm, but willingness to sacrifice anything for it. Her journey from nothing to the edge of something new to define her life is the film that briefs for just short of 90 minutes.

This is not another 'Billy Elliot'. Animations are usually comedy, fantasy and musical, but recently the adventures and science fictions are surging. I don't remember I ever have seen an animated dance flick. Not the classical dance, not in the modern 3D animation format. The closest one was a decade old 'Happy Feet'. So that makes it is a unique product and comes under a must see for all the animation fans. But the storyline is predictable and many sequences were intentionally dragged to be cliché. Because it works, particularly if they're aiming for the younger generation who haven't seen many films in their lives. Only we the grownups whine.

Most of the voice-over artists are well known Americans actors which boosted the film. The character combinations are good. It brought the variety, especially slightly to ride off the main theme in a few occasions. Like the boy's interest in inventing things which were other major parts of the twist and turns in the narration. It is not a great animation if it was from Hollywood, but coming from France and the theme it focused on, the effort must be appreciated. Overall a much better film than what the average reviews and ratings around the internet says. It is a ballet film means not those who love it should watch it, but those target audience should not miss it. That means generally worth a watch, but not for everyone.

7/10

To preface my review let me say that I'm a 71 year old man who does not usually enjoy animated movies any longer. But I took my 7-year-old son to see Leap today and I really enjoyed it.

The story is light, surely to be appreciated by young girls. My son was restless through the second half, only rejoining the action when the little boy character was on screen.

What I enjoyed most was the graphics that were very good. The scenes were great. I lived in Paris for 3 years so anything in that city brings back fond memories. Both the body language and facial expressions of the characters were spot on. I chuckled many times through the movie as I saw how wonderful a job the animators did.

I enjoyed the story too. Who wouldn't enjoy a story with a positive outcome. It was certainly unrealistic but still fun.

Something tells me there's more to the film than just a wannabe ballerina setting out to achieve her dreams. I could be very wrong but I believe his to be a personal accomplishment for French director/screenplay writer Eric Summer who comes from Brittany himself, where this story starts at an orphanage in 1879.

Enlisting the talent of French animator who was partly responsible for one of my favourite animated movies, Belleville Rendez-vous, Éric Warin sits alongside Summer in the director's chair and what they give us is a delightful underdog story.

The focus of the story is on Félicie, voiced by Elle Fanning, an ambitious yet rebellious orphan girl who dreams of becoming a dancer, constantly attempting to flee the orphanage to Paris, in pursuit of her ambition.

She's not alone in either dream-chasing or escaping the orphanage. Victor, voiced by Dane DeHaan, an obvious admirer of hers also wishes to leave to become a famous inventor, so the two of them embark on an adventure finally reaching Paris and with various strokes of good fortunate, end up where they both want to be.

The voices don't necessarily match their characters, DeHaan being far to old (apologies, 30 isn't old, but...) to voice a teenage orphan. Pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen does a fine job of voicing broken ballerina, Odette, but I'm most impressed with Sia's music video dancing star, Maddie Ziegler, voicing the spoilt, stuck-up Camille.

It has all the ingredients of a simple yet pleasing underdog story with some impressive and enticing animation. The dances themselves are superbly gracefully and the details are brilliant. There's troublesome emotions, difficult choices and quite a few triumphs with a clear message of never giving up and what ever you do, do it with heart.

It's predictable but that's forgivable being a children's film. It's loaded with touching gestures and typical twists that make the film memorable but is equally loaded with unnecessary silliness and feels a little rushed in places, possibly to keep children's attention.

It's not a musical but the soundtrack that accompanies the film really stands out with some great tracks from Magical Thinker, Chantal Kreviazuk and Camila Mora. Klaus Badelt does a graceful and enchanting score that does well to stand alone from Tchaikovsky's ballet greats of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker.

It's good sign not hearing any disturbances for the young audience and my God-Daughter seemed to enjoy it giving a little dance at the end. It's far from perfect but there's some great scenes and you can see the effort was put in. It's good light-hearted entertainment for the whole family.

Running Time: 8 The Cast: 6 Performance: 7 Direction: 7 Story: 8 Script: 7 Creativity: 8 Soundtrack: 9 Job Description: 9 The Extra Bonus Points: 0

69% 7/10

Tired of watching modern dance movies that has you say: Another one of Hollywood street dancer groups with all its acrobatics that must have come from America's got talent aiming for Hollywood that tosses aside the traditional dance of Ballet?

Produced at L'Atelier Animation in Montreal, Canada, Ballerina (2016) is majestic at all levels from the animation to the story itself.

A basic story of a young orphaned girl Félicie (Elle Fanning) who dreams to become a ballerina leaves with her friend Victor (Dane DeHaan) who also has a dream that of becoming a famous inventor, both go to Paris to meet their destiny.

What makes this a beautiful animation is that the story is not bogged by irrelevant metaphors or irony that distracts from the story that would have us distracted to the relevance of the movie based on something that could happen anywhere such as achieving one's goal. One does not say during the film that this scene is ridiculous that it diverts us from the message.

A success indeed.

First of all, the story itself. Set back in the 1800's where Paris is growing and where all hope is possible and notwithstanding the fact that Félicie (Elle Fanning) will take the identity of another person Camille Le Haut (Maddie Ziegler) is not new in the move world. Yet, the story progresses logically to have her be discovered as a fraud. What Merante (Terrence Scammell) sees in Félicie when he discovers the truth is what he sees in himself, one with passion. As a fact when he says to Camille and Felicie why they dance, in his harshness in his selection of candidates lies his humanity. He doesn't insult Camille but asks her why she dances?

Here we have the theme: Are we born to dance or do we become dancers that can be applied in all aspects of society? Are we born with a gift or do we become the gift?

Secondly, the choreography is absolutely amazing. It compares with all the acrobatics seen on America's got talent or in movies such as Rocky Balboa. Remember his training against this Russian guy? We see two types of training, the natural versus the mechanical training using modern equipment.

What about the competitive choreography between the two girls? Superbe!

If the film gave me shivers three times then I admit to the success of the film animation to have struck a chord in me. And, if my grandchild was able to relate to his life one scene which was the union of Félicie and as Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen) and which has also brought me back to when I bought tickets to the Ballet then I consider this animation a true marvel to which I give 10/10.

I have no idea why they started the film as they did. The starting scene is just nothing new, childish, and makes the film seem for younger audiences. I suspect that someone told them they needed to start with an exciting scene with lots of action, so this is what happened... Nevermind the beginning, once the kids get to Paris things start to shape up and an actual narrative emerges. Nothing too revolutionary here, in terms of story or plot, but solid work.

If you're a parent, and you believe in your children's dreams and potentials, you will love this movie! In my review, I just want to extend my gratitude to the creators of LEAP. It's a breath of fresh air to see a film that encourages kids to dream and dream big. This world will try to steal your dreams, we need more movies like this to encourage children (and adults) to continue to follow their dreams.

"Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn't stuck with the present." "Those who believe they can move mountains,do.Those who believe they can't,cannot." -David J Schwartz in Magic of Thinking Big

Im a huge fan for animation, I heard about this movie and didn't really know what to expect. What I got was a beautiful movie with the positive messages of chasing your dreams and never giving up on them no matter how hard things may seem.

I do kinda wish the subplot of victor could have tied in more with the main focus of Felicie but it is what it is, I ain't complaining.

Finally, It was hilarious and very charming too. Perfect for families. Enjoy the movie!

Ballerina is a great french-Canadian animation film about 2 waifs who escape their orphanage and go to Paris to reach their dreams & never give up, Félicie (Elle Fanning) with a passion a natural talent for dance & Victor (Dane Dehaan) an inventor. Beautiful music, landscapes & sceneries, a Belle Époque tale that involves the construction of the Eiffel Tower & the Statue of Liberty. A kindly maid & a distinguished professor manage her to succeed. A movie for the whole family.

I'm going to keep this short with a list of positives and negatives;

Positives: It looks beautiful, both the settings and the movements.

Negatives: Horrible story. Terribly written dialogues, characters and comedy. The action scene at the end makes no sense and comes out of nowhere. The moral of the story seems to say that it's OK to cheat and lie, for as long as you have passion everything will work out. Music that doesn't fit the scene, mood or time-frame. Horrendous voice acting, going for "star power" instead of talent.

Leap! is a great film with a big meaning. This film teaches it all - honesty, perseverance and the importance of practice, family, believing in yourself, believing in your dreams and passion. Felicie makes a lot of mistakes during her journey, which set her back, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to push through.

The story begins when Felicie and her best friend, Victor escape from an orphanage. They take a train to Paris so that Felicie can attend a dance school there and Victor can become an inventor. They arrive in Paris without any money. During their journey, they encounter many challenges. As Felicie meets new people, a love conflict arises as well as a conflict with a wealthy lady who is pure evil and wants to crush Felicie's dream.

A wealthy woman Regine (Kate McKinnon) is cruel, rude and arrogant, but a boy with a crush on Felicie protects her from Regine. McKinnon makes Regine sound totally wicked in a bad but great way. The boy, Victor (Natt Wolf) is portrayed as a timid, but an optimistic and caring friend.

The animation in this film is spectacular! It is very detailed and their mouths move with the words they are saying so well the animated characters seem real. The voice acting is spot on. The voices are filled with emotion and an inspiration to the audience, including me.

My favorite part is when Felicie watches a ballerina at the French dance school. She takes just one look at the ballerina's dance and knows she wants to dance and that she can dance. You can really see Felicie's passion for dancing right there. The whole movie is all about passion and the movie will inspire viewers to follow their dreams.

The message of this film is to follow your dreams. It show how, in order to succeed, you have to work very hard, believe in yourself and have passion. Felicie is an exemplary role model.

Leap! is a very inspirational film with a very important lesson and a pleasure to watch. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 3 to 18. Adults will love this movie as well. I really enjoyed watching this film.

It's late 19th century. Felicie (Elle Fanning) and Victor (Dane DeHaan) are best friends at an orphanage. She dreams of dancing and he helps her escape to Paris. She finds her way to the National Academy of Music and is taken in by crippled caretaker Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen). Cruel Regine runs the ballet school and Camille (Maddie Ziegler) is a snooty aggressive little girl trying to be a ballerina. Felicie steals Camille's invitation to Mérante's class who is picking the new Clara in The Nutcracker. Victor tells her that he's working for Eiffel who is busy building his tower and the Statue of Liberty.

The animation is functional. This Canadian-French production is equivalent to Illumination Entertainment level. It's fine but not anything ground breaking. The characters are fine. There are the plucky kids against great odds and villains and other archetypes. The story is also fine but a few changes would have helped. Felicie stealing the letter is probably the main mistake. It puts her on the wrong side and lets Camille off the hook. Camille should be bullying the other girls to force them out. Felicie can still learn from Odette and Mérante can simply invite her into the class after the tavern dance. The plot can arrive at the same place without compromising Felicie. It's also off when she sleeps through her audition putting her at fault once again. The dance off is actually quite exhilarating but the climaxing gets a second unnecessary trip around. A Hollywood studio would make everybody an animal and this would probably sell a lot better. Sing is not much better and it made over $600 million. Non-Hollywood doesn't have the formula yet. They don't know how to market and make a modern family-oriented animated movie.

Watch the first ten minutes and tell me this isn't a rip off of Anastasia! Red headed orphan girl with male orphan friend escapes off to Paris and all she has is a music box from her mother....? Obviously the story then transitions into one about dance and following your dreams (wonderful idea and one I had so much hope for), but the horribly matched voice acting, the teeny bopper music in place of classical ballet music... so many simple things that could've made this movie so much better.

A story about an orphaned girl and her aspiring inventor friend escaping the orphanage to pursue their dreams. Decent, enjoyable, cliché with a hint of Karate Kid in it. I am quite happy to watch it from the beginning to its very end, but only one thing I can't stand, which is Carly Rae Jepsen's voice. I imagined Odette wouldn't sound like that. It's completely unexpected, not in a good way. It lacks passion and charisma of one who used to be the prima, the best ballerina. Her job at portraying Odette is the only thing that holds me back from re-watching this film, which is such a shame because the story and the animation are worth watching twice.

I didn't mind the cliche story; the animation was beautiful, fun and very enjoyable to watch. But man, WTF was that soundtrack?? I wish I did not hate all those songs so much and perhaps I would have loved this movie.

The most Beautiful animation movie ever ! I adore, adore, adore, adore, adore this movie, it's delightful and absolutely Divine !!!!!!!!!! Ten out of Ten. This magical movie was surely made by a Great Team and also with True Love and Great Passion and that's all it takes to make this Wonderful and Marvellous movie. It's Pure, full of Talent, Grace and Magic.This Mesmerizing Film is worthy of the Oscars and it represents with the utmost Beauty and Justice the most Noble and the most Precious Soul of The Loving Citizens of France, a very Talented, very Tender, very Artistic, very Kind and very Good-Hearted People. That's a True Masterpiece. I cried a lot as I was watching every detail, every delightful scene of this extremely Beautiful movie.You deserve the very top rating for you have made this movie with True Love and Passion, just like The Stars of this Magical Film. Much more than a very cute and very nice movie, Ballerina is a Praise to Beautiness, Kindness, Dedication and Friendship. Follow Your Dreams with Passion and someday they will surely some True. Absolutely Divine !!!!!!!!!!

Two French orphans escape to 19th century Paris. One dreams of being a famous Ballet performer. The other dreams of being an inventor.

Obviously, the heroine becomes a true hero, with the help of the inventor. This is great children's movie, also very enjoyable for a father. In 3D it is more exciting to watch than Rogue One in IMAX.

The setting in the 19th century Paris is excellent. Gustav Eiffel lived then and there, need I say more?

The French movie is really the best Christmas holiday feel-good movie, that you need to end 2016. Still worthwhile watching 2017 onward, though.

Although it's predictable, has plenty of clichés and the turning points in it are results of very silly events which are familiar in kids' animated movies, its animation is surprisingly spectacular, it has some funny moments, likable characters, and good humor, and its songs are as inspiring as its ballet sequences.

(7/10)

I saw this just few days ago in a local theater. In brief:

The good: + Great visuals + Nice music + Cool story

The bad: - Teen pop in a music about classical ballet! - Daisy Dukes-like pants in a 1900 France?

So generally I enjoyed the movie. It is sort of Cinderella story. My little one did not wanted to see it, so I went alone. However, this is a movie about classical ballet. There are few moments, where they actually are supposed to dance on a classical music background, so in the beginning of the movie there is a scene with the music from Swan Lake, in the middle of the movie there is a ballet school with classical music background and in the end, the final scene is supposed to be showing The Nutcracker, however on this one they play (*drumroll please*) ... CHEESY TEEN POP!!! Yep, that's right - we get ballerinas dancing ballet, supposedly on the music of the Nutcracker, but instead there is some cheesy teen pop! This is the major fail I talk about. Seriously, you cannot ruin a movie in such a bad way normally. No idea what talent you need to come up with such a stupid idea. Instead play the Nutcracker music for a minute until the credits start to flow, then transition to the teen pop. Would be much better, but no - they failed it. Also - in 1900 France they show us a girl wearing leggings and something similar to daisy dukes on top. Hellooooo? Reality check here? There is no such a girl, even in Paris in 1900s which would wear such a thing.

But again - in general the movie is fun and amusing, despite the few horrible moments I mentioned. It is also little surreal, as they show some pretty cool flying, but it's a cartoon after all, so I don't mind the daisy dukes so much (but I seriously do mind the music!).

Bring your kids, enjoy!

Just because a theme is timeless doesn't mean you should expect it to work every time. "Ballerina" (or "Leap!" for the English title) is another Cinderella story crossed with a sports/competition-themed narrative, delivering the oh-so cherished message that a passion is worth fighting for no matter what, and that all it takes is to put your heart in it. Fine, tell me something I didn't know.

At first, it looked like something I could really enjoy, Felicie, the 11-year old orphan girl dreams to become a ballerina then thanks to a strike of luck (of the sneaky sort but I liked it) , she finds a way to the Opera, then a mysterious cleaner with the grace of a ballet dancer but a limp that screams "failed dream" puts her up, and trains her.And then, well, I quickly realized that there was nothing in the film, I hadn't seen before. Except maybe for the superb rendition of a 3D Paris circa 1880's (when the Eiffel Tower was in construction) and a magnificent use of lighting during the dance sequences.

Let's make it clear, the animation is top notch and has nothing to envy from a Pixar movie. But a lesser look with a better story would have been better, Felicie's journey doesn't do justice to its mesmerizing visuals and can only offer a series of predictable plot elements where the heroine will learn about losing and falling at least ten times before making a climactic grand jeté or spinning on a roof. It doesn't even do justice to the character of Felicie who seems to have a certain edge over the usual heroines, she's not perfect, she lies, she might even sound too "modern" for the film, but overall, her actions are only commanded by the usual script requirements whose purpose is to postpone the inevitable triumph, much to our frustration.

We know there will be a final showdown between Felicie and her nemesis, rich blonde girl who's pushed by her tyrannical mother, we know that it will all be a matter of "heart" rather than technical or physical training, and there will also be a moment where Felicie will say one word too many (to hurt Odette) and get punished by Karma. I expected better than refusing to practice the night before the final test just because the Russian jock told her she was "unique" and wanted to go out for the night, and of course, she had to tell her Odette that she wasn't her mother. Still, it took was to say "I'm sorry" but this film is as dully predicable as Rocky sequel. They have to make the right mistakes at the right moments.

"Ballerina" features other clichés such as the good-looking boyfriend, of course the fat insecure sidekick (with glasses) and the villainous mother who goes literally over the top once the film had founded a rather good resolution. I was wondering whether they needed some extra time or if the directors felt the film lacked action but they didn't even try to be innovative by keeping focused on the dance. No, had to be a " Fatal Attraction" confrontation with a Deus Ex Machina last-minute rescue from Felicie's best friend. Did the mother really think she could kill Felicie and get away with it? It's a real shame that a movie that could have encouraged vocations and provide many lessons about life had to be so formulaic to the point of emulating action movies.

I don't mean it had to be like "Black Swan" either but a better effort on the writing could have really helped it. And another aspect that bothered me, I don't know if it's also the case for the English version but the French version used an adult voice that was too low-pitched for a little girl, not to mention that she was talking like a 2000's teenager even saying such expressions as OK that could have been said by a girl in the 1880's Paris. Well, maybe that anachronism was deliberate and I'm looking too far but that's because I really wanted to enjoy it.

The film successes in the most difficult part, it looked great but it should have embraced its own message about discipline and write more extra drafts to add some density to the story and makes the characters or the situations a little less two dimensional.

I thought that this film was rather good and I loved the friendship and how determined the children were in getting their dreams as well as how great the animation of this film was. However I feel there was more that they could have done with the movie and it was rather lacking and the villain was not original at all.