Illusions...

After months of nothing but Netflixing, I journied out today to see The Illusionist with KnitmeisterS. My feelings about it are totally mixed.

The Good: Rufus Sewell and Paul Giamatti were excellent. Ed Norton was absolutely amazing as Eisenheim. The music was perfect - it was dramatic, mysterious and beautiful. The magic tricks themselves, particularly at the beginning, were excellent. Even though most of them were CG, I was really enthralled with the world of magic and illusion.

The Bad: They just could have done so much MORE with the story. There were all these little bits of themes - democracy v. monarchy, love v. possession, reality v. illusion - that could have easily been focused upon to make a much better movie.

The Ugly: So as not to ruin it for the rest of you, I will just say that the plot left something to be desired. What was supposed to be the grand reveal was evident from fairly early on, so there was no amazing moment in the end for me.

All in all - a 3 or 4 out of 5. I didn't think it was well done, but it was romantic enough to keep my interest.